The Beast Within
by White Gryphon
Summary: When Spectra and Bertrand enact their plans for revenge, Danny finds himself as the next victim of the Amulet of Eragon.
1. Chapter 1

Danny woke up one Tuesday morning with a pounding headache. He sat up and reached up with one hand to clutch the side of his head, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and touching his feet to the cold, wood floor. He gave himself a moment to try and recover from the pain; within the space of a few moments it slowly died down to a dull ache. Standing up, he undressed, then pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. It didn't take him long afterwards to find both his sneakers and a pair of clean socks. Fully clothed, he opened the door to his bedroom and descended the stairs, heading towards the kitchen for his usual cereal breakfast.  
  
A loud crash sounded from the underground lab, startling Danny into full alertness. The passageway leading down into the basement was down the hall, through the dining room. He crossed the room in nearly four strides, rushing to see what had happened to make such a noise.  
  
He remembered that Jack had been up all night, working on a new Fenton-gadget for tracking ghosts. How could he forget? His dad had been blathering on all about it after dinner last night, eager to show Danny exactly how it was going to work. Thinking back to how his dad said that all the machine did was track the location and movement of a ghost through a coordinate system, and yet had no large moving parts that could cause damage to anyone, Danny wondered if perhaps Jack had started working on a different machine that did have mechanical arms or other appendages that could have possibly knocked something over in its test run and thus made that loud crash.  
  
He was downstairs in an instant, inside his mom and dad's ghost research laboratory. The only light in the room came from the Fentonportal, which stood open, its inner spectral void casting an eerie green glow over everything else in the room. Danny was about to rush over and close the portal when he heard a sound off to his right, back towards the far corner of the room. It was a very faint sound, like someone moaning after having been exhausted of all strength. Turning his back on the open portal, Danny ran towards the source of the sound, discovering a knocked-over cabinet with its contents scattered all over the floor, out from underneath which lay an arm, clothed in the sleave of an orange jumpsuit and a black glove.  
  
"...Dad!"  
  
Danny began tearing at the pile of rubble with fervor, and soon had the barely-conscious form of Jack Fenton uncovered. Danny knelt on one leg to Jack's side, putting his hands down on his shoulders. His father lay on his stomach, one side of his face against the floor, his arms spread out. Danny shook his shoulders, attempting to arouse him from his inertness.  
  
"Dad! Dad! ... Dad, can you hear me? It's me, Danny! Wake up, dad..."  
  
Jack groaned, but otherwise did not move. Danny shoved harder.  
  
"Wake up... Please, dad, wake up..."  
  
Danny saw his father open one eye slightly, and he took his hands off his shoulders, reaching down to touch his cold, clammy cheek. He moved aside as he felt Jack draw his arms closer, moving them underneath him, trying to raise himself up... then suddenly fall back down to the floor with a loud thud. Jack exhaled through his mouth, and his eye slowly shut. He lay still, save for his still-beating heart and his slow and steady yet inaudible breathing.  
  
Danny fell to his knees beside his father's unconscious form. All of a sudden, the sound of a glass shattering close by grabbed Danny's attention. He leapt to his feet, preparing to switch to ghost form. Before he could do so, something smacked him hard in the side of his head, sending him staggering backwards. Unable to regain balance, he fell backward, landing full-length on his back on the hard floor; the back of his head hit the metal tile with a crack, sending stars sparking like electric firecrackers across his vision.  
  
Before he could recover and attempt to get back up, he was pinned down by something heavy, each one of his limbs suddenly pressed against the floor by an individual leg. Something else, something cold and hard, wrapped itself around his neck and pulled itself tight against his skin, constricting his breathing somewhat. Coming to his senses, Danny jerked his body, trying to throw off whatever was on top of him, but it did no good. Within a few seconds he was able to open one eye.  
  
Standing over him, his four furry legs pinning him down, was a ghost cougar. Danny blinked, then it came to him. Bertrand!  
  
"You! I'm going gh-AAAACK!!!"  
  
The restraint on his neck, as if sensing his intentions, suddenly pulled tighter, momentarily cutting off his breathing. The bond then relaxed slightly, allowing him to gasp in a breath. His tongue lolled out, red spots swimming about in front of his closed eyes. He was somewhat aware of Bertrand leaning forward to bring his face closer to Danny's. The ghost began to speak; the scent of human blood was on his breath.  
  
"So nice of you to join us, little ghost-boy freak." He chuckled darkly. "You should stick around to see me tear your stupid father limb from limb, then toss his remains into the Ghost Zone... Or maybe, maybe instead I could do the same to your dear mother, first... I guess it all depends on what the little loser would rather see me do."  
  
Bertrand then leapt off of Danny, leaving him free to move about; however, still severely weakened from being nearly strangled by the bond around his neck, he had no energy with which to move about. His head fell to the side, and he was able to open one eye, watching as Bertrand approached Jack's prone body. Stepping up to the unconscious form of Danny's father, Bertrand lifted one paw, unsheathing a single, sharp claw. He brought it down gently on Jack's shoulder, drawing an imaginary line with the lethal tip.  
  
"Perhaps I could cut him apart using the designs on his dumb-looking outfit... This area around his neck would come off rather nicely... Not to say cleanly, though, I want to see how far his blood would run across the floor before his heart stops beating."  
  
Slowly having come to his senses again, Danny tried to get up. He could feel something pulling back on his neck, as if it were wrapping around and joining its ends together behind him, weighing down on his neck and shoulders. He did not reach up to feel it; he was too preoccupied with Bertrand standing poised, ready to kill his father. His breathing became more labored, his chest burning as anger began to course through his system... How dare he... How dare he invade my home... How dare he attack my dad... How dare he stand there and just think that he could get away with it...!!!  
  
Danny jumped to his feet and charged toward Bertrand, seemingly forgetting to switch to ghost mode before doing so, mostly due to the adrenaline and fury surging through his veins. He leapt to pounce upon him, ready to do to him what he threatened to do to Jack...  
  
His blood suddenly turned to ice in his heart. His senses detached themselves from his body; within an instant he lay suspended in nothing. His vision turned to black.  
  
Almost immediately afterwards, a bright white light flooded his vision, blinding him. The lab rapidly came into focus. Startled out of his hate, he found himself suspended somewhere between the floor and the ceiling, looking down on the lab. He felt his feet on the ground, and he looked down--but all he saw was the dark, flaming ghost form of Penelope Spectra, the misery-feeder who passed herself off as a motivational speaker not too long ago in order to suck the optimism out of almost every single student at Casper High. What was she doing out of the Ghost Zone? For that matter, what about Bertrand being free as well? He saw Bertrand not too far away, standing a small distance away from Jack, sitting and looking up at something up above where Danny was watching him. Both Spectra and Bertrand had the same dark grin on their faces, and yet they weren't looking at him. He looked up, but saw nothing except the dark corner of the ceiling.  
  
Danny looked back down toward his feet, where he could feel them touching the ground, but there was nothing there. He could feel where his hands were, and he tried to hold them out in front of him where he knew for sure he could see them. But not only could he not move his arms, even though he felt perfectly capable of doing so, he couldn't see his hands where they were, either. Looking around each way he could, he could see nothing of himself. It was like his entire essence has been reverted into a pair of transparent eyeballs.  
  
"What happened? What have you done to me?" he wanted to cry out to Spectra, but no voice came from his mouth, nor did he feel his lips move. He looked down once more, and saw Spectra and Bertrand still looking up toward the corner of the ceiling, above Danny. Slowly, they backed away until they were both at least halfway to the lab walls, still grinning.  
  
A loud roar erupted from a point close to the ceiling. Danny turned his gaze toward the sound, which seemed to have originated from something vibrating close to his head. Suddenly, a huge gouge opened up in the ceiling. Then, another. Something huge and invisible to Danny was tearing open the ceiling to the lab, roaring loudly as it did so. Soon enough a giant hole was ripped out of the ceiling, and Danny could see the dining room's ceiling above. He cried out in silence as his field of view was carried upwards, into the dining room, and then through another huge hole out into the open air, into the light of sunrise. If the air was cold or humid, he couldn't feel it; what he could feel, however, was a pair of long limbs that seemed to come straight out from his shoulder blades, moving up and down, beating the air. He was carried up and out of the house, up towards the sky, then out over the neighborhood that surrounded his house. He felt the wind brushing past his limbs that he could not see; he felt yet another limb behind him, an extension of his spine that went down, curved, and then straightened out... a tail? Gradually the temperature of the surrounding air became apparent to him: it was cool and comforting. He tried to close his eyes, but then found that impossible, as even his eyelids were invisible. The chill in the air soothed his whirling mind and brought him to tranquility. Looking down, he saw houses, buildings, and low-flying clouds sweeping past him; he was traveling faster now.  
  
He blinked, and although not able to clear his vision with momentary darkness, was able to bring to mind the events that had just taken place. His dad, still in danger, lay on the lab floor. Spectra and Bertrand were free, and Bertrand just tried to make it look like he was going to kill his dad. Something happened when he tried to attack Bertrand, and now he was flying about, having no control over his body except for his eyes, his perspective somewhat distorted, his body invisible, and yet it seemed like Spectra and Bertrand could see him. But why didn't they look toward him where his eyes were, and instead looked up at a space over his head? What was there that they could see, but he couldn't? And what were these extra limbs of his that he could feel, but like the rest of his body, could not see: a pair of wings and a tail? What had happened to him?  
  
He tried turning his gaze backward without turning his head, and found himself staring backwards at his house, far away yet visible from the air because of the large metal structure sitting atop the building's roof. He could see the hole in the side of the house where he had departed from. Compared to the building itself, the hole was rather large, perhaps large enough for an elephant or...  
  
An image formed in his mind. A recent memory came to light.  
  
No, no... It can't be...  
  
Not me. 

* * *

"So, Penelope, should I go ahead and snuff this guy? He practically looks like he's asking for it."  
  
"NO, Bertrand. When we finally come after his family and friends, it'll be just before we kill him. There are worse things than death, as you already know, but there are also worse things than knowing that those dear to you are dead and gone, both physically AND mentally. Oh, don't look so down, Bertie... In due time we may complete our revenge against that horrid little twerp. He will definitely deserve it, especially after what he did to me."  
  
"I see your point. He's not worth it... At least not right now. Oh, I'm so glad to be free of that irritable Ghost Zone... No one to scare, no one living to sap energy from. Now we're back in business... It's wonderful how you've found out how to channel energy given off from terror instead of just misery. Gives us a bigger range of victims."  
  
"Yes, Bertie... You know, it's lucky that we came across that ghost maiden when we did... Earned us a powerful tool with which to exact our revenge on the little freak. From what we've seen, I'd say it serves its purpose rather well. Well, I'd say it's time we left this dump and had a look at what our little loser has managed to accomplish so far... He's probably already halfway towards the park or the mall. He might even reach the school first... Very unpredictable these creatures are, you know."  
  
"I hear you, Penelope... Can't wait to get a front row seat to the carnage. Let's get out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

"...Then the baleful fiend its fire belched out,  
and bright homes burned. The blaze stood high all landsfolk frighting. No living thing would that loathly one leave as aloft it flew."  
  
Mr. Lancer stood before his British Literature class, reading out loud from the copy of Beowulf that rested in his hand. He flung his free arm emphatically about in the air, simulating the stature of the creature described in the ancient epic. Back in the desks where the students were listening, Samantha was sitting upright, taking in every word. Next to her sat Tucker, his elbows on the deck and his hands holding up his head, pretending to pay attention. His gaze did occasionally shift to the desk nearby where Danny sat, the desk which was now empty. Normally Sam would reach over and nudge him as a reminder that he should think more about his quiz grades than who he was planning on attempting to ask out the next weekend, but today she was more lenient; Danny hadn't shown up for class today, much less for homeroom or first period, that and they had yet to spot him in the halls. He would have let them know if he wasn't going to come to class today, and usually when he skipped out, it was because of either an illness or a severe ghost attack. His abscence today puzzled the both of them; they didn't even have the slightest guess as to why he wasn't in class.  
  
"Alright everyone, come back tomorrow with a one-page report summarizing chapter 33. And Mr. Foley, I suggest that you see me after your lunch break; we have some matters to discuss, mostly about your in-class study habits."  
  
Tucker didn't seem to hear Mr. Lancer; he remained sitting there, his chin in his hands, seemingly unaware of everyone else getting up to leave for the next class period. Sam got up and poked him in the arm.  
  
"Class is over. Lancer wants to bore you some more after lunch."  
  
Tucker flinched, as if he had suddenly been brought out of a trance. He looked around, then up at Sam.  
  
"Uh... right. I heard. It's just that--"  
  
"I understand. Come on, maybe we'll see him in the cafeteria."  
  
Sam and Tuck picked up their backpacks and left the room. They were halfway to the school lunchroom when a loud noise like a bomb going off shook the walls, having come from outside. Tuck yelped in fright, and almost jumped back in surprise when Sam grabbed his arm.  
  
"We've gotta see what that was. It might be something important... It just might a clue to why Danny isn't here!"  
  
And with that, she turned and ran toward the nearest exit doors, half-dragging Tuck behind her as other students began crowding the halls, responding in frenzied alarm to the tremor.

* * *

Having seen the size and shape of his shadow in the late morning sun, Danny's fears were confirmed. A blast of ethereal fire from somewhere up above his head struck the north side of Casper High School, scorching brick and shattering glass. He could hear the screams of the terrified students and faculty inside. Some of them were already rushing out through the front doors, turning sharply and dashing away with greater speed at the sight of him. No, they weren't seeing him; he was invisible to everyone, including himself. What they saw was the towering form of the Ghost Dragon: a giant, winged, fire-breathing spectre that took control over a person's body through an ancient amulet that, when worn around that person's neck, would transform him or her into the malevolent creature once the person came under heavy stress or anger. Spectra must have slipped it around his neck while Bertrand was threatening the life of his father, infuriating him so that he would transform into the dragon. Why Danny was still able to see what went on around him without seeing himself or the dragon, he had absolutely no idea, much less why he wasn't seeing it from the dragon's point of view, where everything around him would have been miniaturized to the point of resembling objects in some kid's dollhouse.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted when the fire alarm went off, red lights flashing through the windows. Danny felt slightly relieved; the fire department was sure to respond to the alarm soon, and that meant firetrucks would be heading towards the school. Hopefully enough of them would come that the dragon would feel at a disadvantage and would fly off before it could do any major damage.  
  
The dragon roared, then swiped at the side of the building with its claws, creating a huge gouge in the wall and sending bricks raining down on the fleeing students below. Danny couldn't bear to watch anymore, since there was absolutely no way he could prevent it, so he turned to look away, off down the street behind him, where hopefully he would be seeing the fire engines' lights flashing at any moment...  
  
Suddenly, a voice rang in his head, a voice coming through clear like the ring of a crystal bell; a sound he could hear above all other sounds around him, even the dragon's roaring.  
  
"Tuck, look! The Ghost Dragon! Danny should be here any second now to drive it away..."  
  
Danny swung around to find the source of the sound. Down on the ground, in one corner of the school's yard, was Sam, standing right next to Tuck, pointing up at the dragon. Seeing their familiar faces, he called out to them, momentarily forgetting that not even he himself could hear his voice.  
  
"Sam! Tuck! Get as far away from here as you can, I don't want you getting hurt!"  
  
The pair froze where they stood, looking around. Danny was taken aback. Could they hear him? And for that matter, how was he able to hear Sam, especially above all that clatter? Sam looked up in the sky in every direction, then cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out a reply. However, her voice came through with the same volume and clarity as before.  
  
"Danny!! Where are you?"  
  
She must be able to hear my thoughts, or at least what I'm trying to say to her, Danny thought. Somehow or another we can understand each other.  
  
"You probably won't get this, but I'm inside the dragon--no, I AM the dragon--or at least the dragon's overshadowing me. I'll explain later, if I can. But right now I need you two to go to my house and see if Mom and Dad are all right!"  
  
He heard Sam and Tuck exchanging exclamations, quite possibly from the shock at Danny's message, while the dragon roared again and ripped away another section of the north wall. Then Danny heard sirens; not just fire engines, but also police cars, all approaching at top speed, rounding the corner and lining up around the building, keeping a safe distance away from him. He looked around and saw the students all crowded behind the chain-link fence that surrounded the school, their wide eyes watching him in complete and utter terror. The school yard was a confusion of lights, shouts, sirens, and movement. Really starting to feel the pressure, Danny turned his attention back to his friends, who were now staring up at him like everyone else.  
  
"Don't just stand there, hurry! I really need to know if my parents are okay. And when you find out, go down in the lab and look for a device with a large antenna and a satellite dish--that's a new ghost tracker. You'll need that to find me later on. I can't control what the dragon does or where it goes... So please, hurry..."  
  
Telling Sam about the upgraded Fentonfinder brought a wave of depression crashing down on Danny; he recalled the sight of his dad laying unconscious on the lab floor, Bertrand standing over him, ready to bring his claws down on his unprotected back. Even though he did see Bertrand step away from him, the thought of Jack's life being in danger just with him being in the very presence of Bertrand in cougar form made Danny extremely worried. At his request, Sam and Tuck quickly left the school grounds and went running down the street in the direction of Danny's house. He watched them go until they were out of sight.  
  
The sound of someone yelling below caused him to shift his attention; the firemen had readied their hoses and now had them trained on him. At the signal of another yell, the hoses began firing powerful streams of water, strong enough to remove the grassy turf from the dirt where they struck the yard. Several of them struck the dragon in the side, and it roared, turning to face the firetrucks. The firemen then directed the force of the water to strike the dragon in sensitive areas; its nose, eyes, and neck. The dragon roared again, stepping back, then flapped its huge wings and took to the air, turning and flying away from the burning school. Danny gave a silent sigh of relief as he saw the ground fall away from him, the building fading from sight as he gained distance and speed. The noonday sun streamed down on him from overhead, illuminating everything below in its golden light. His gaze lingered on the cloud of smoke leading skyward from the building for a long time.  
  
Suddenly, he felt a sharp drop in altitude. Swinging around to look, he found he was descending upon a farm, heading in the direction of a large field of cattle. He remembered that he hadn't had any breakfast yet, and, realizing what the dragon was about to do, he turned his gaze up towards the sky and the clouds, unable to cover his eyes. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Will you put that thing down and help me out with this?"  
  
"I can't, Maddie... Not until after I put these last few finishing touches on it."  
  
"Jack, you've been putting those finishing touches on it for over an hour now. I need help clearing away all this wreckage. And in case you haven't noticed, there's a ton of it sitting here in the corner of the lab that needs to be moved!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but right now, the most important thing is that I complete this device so that it will be ready for testing--"  
  
"Apparently you also haven't noticed this gigantic HOLE in the ceiling, much less the one in the side of the house! This might not apply to you personally, but I believe the most important thing right now is that we figure out just exactly how they GOT there!"  
  
Sam and Tuck reached the downstairs lab. Sitting in a chair up against the far wall, with an icepack on his head and a screwdriver and some device with wires dangling from it in his hands, was what seemed to be a well alive Jack Fenton. Standing next to him with a banged-up metal panel in one hand and a broken microscope in the other was an equally if not better conditioned Madison Fenton. They both took their attention off what they were doing and looked at Sam and Tuck as they entered the room. The room was silent for a moment, then Sam was the first to speak.  
  
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton! Um, Mr. Fenton, we wanted to see your new Fentonfinder..."  
  
Jack's ears perked at the sound of enthusiasm about one of his inventions. He leapt to his feet, the icepack falling to the floor along with the screwdriver and near-finished device, and seemed to leap to the nearest table, taking a metal box about the size of a toaster in one hand and holding it up.  
  
"Samantha, Tucker, I present to you the new and improved Fentonfinder! It uses radar and satellite signals to not only locate ghosts, but also to track their movements and exact positions by reading atomic signatures from bits of ecto-matter the ghost leaves behind! It can even calculate the exact distance between your location and that of the ghost you're tracking..."  
  
Jack paused in his speech, giving Sam and Tuck a suspicious look.  
  
"Wait a minute... How did you two find out about this thing?"  
  
"Oh, we heard about it from Da--"  
  
Sam slapped a hand over Tuck's mouth, grinning sheepishly at Jack.  
  
"Sir, we just knew you had to be working on some new gadget, and we felt like helping you give it a test run... You know, to make sure there weren't any bugs in the system and that it worked fine. We just guessed that it might be a new Fentonfinder, and if it wasn't, we thought we'd inspire you to try and build a new one."  
  
As Jack stopped to ponder Sam's response, Tuck nudged her with his elbow.  
  
"Nice save."  
  
Jack smiled and approached Sam, handing her the device.  
  
"Great idea! I know I can count on the both of you to make sure the new Fentonfinder will perform in top condition when I go to use it in research later this month. How much time will you need to test it?"  
  
Sam and Tuck looked at each other questioningly.  
  
"Um, uh... Maybe a week? Is that okay, Mr. Fenton?"  
  
Jack stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then nodded.  
  
"One week. Report back to me as soon as you find any bugs, though, so that I can update the system. Now, go! Send the Fentonfinder on its maiden voyage in the world of ghost-hunting, and make me proud!"  
  
He grabbed Sam's shoulder and struck a heroic pose, pointing up the stairs with one outstretched hand, even though the outside of the house was much more visible through the hole in the ceiling. Sam thanked Jack and Maddie, having to wrench herself free from Jack's grip, then she and Tuck went back upstairs and into the living room, the shiny, metallic Fentonfinder resting under Sam's arm. Tuck breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Thanks for covering for me, I owe you one."  
  
"I'll just add it to your tab. Anyway, Mr. Fenton said that this machine needs a bit of the ghost in order to tell us exactly where it is. Do you think that Danny--I mean, the dragon might have left any ecto-matter at the school when it breathed fire on the building, or maybe when it clawed the walls?"  
  
"Maybe we don't have to go all the way to the school for that. Let me check over here..."  
  
Tuck walked over to the wall in the dining room in which the large hole opened up into the street. He knelt down, inspecting the edge of the torn wall, as if searching for something miniscule. Finally, he reached down and picked up something Sam could not see, then lifted his arm up in the air, holding up a small object that glowed bluish-green.  
  
"Eureka! Look, Sam, one of the dragon's scales! It must have been scraped off when the dragon brushed its side against the edge of this hole... We can use this to track where Danny's going!"  
  
Sam felt around the Fentonfinder until she found the compartment where the ecto-matter was to be inserted for the machine to check its molecular composition. Tuck then placed the glowing blue scale in the tiny drawer, which slided back into the machine. A small monitor screen on top of the box displayed the message "Loading" and showed a colored bar underneath that marked how much information it had processed. After a short while, the display changed to an image of the dragon, and Sam and Tuck could hear a computerized voice coming from a speaker on the side of the device.  
  
"Subject: Dragon Ghost. Length: 40 feet. Weight: 8 tons. Current Position..."  
  
The image display changed to that of a map, with latitude and longitude lines, topographical features, and cities marked out in neon green on a black ground. The map was greatly zoomed out, showing Amity Park only as a small dot on the waters' edge, north of which were a large forest and a mountain range. A blinking dot in a crosshair showed the dragon's position. Sam and Tuck noticed that the dot was already far into the forest and was still traveling north at a rapid pace; the dragon was on the move. If they were going to catch up with Danny, they would have to find a way of getting close to where he was in the least possible amount of time.  
  
"Tuck, we're taking the bus. I can cover the fare, but before we leave, I'm going to need you to gather up a few of your communication devices for the road. We might not end up having to use them, but we can't be too sure... I'm going to have to go back to my house in order to get the money we need, too, so let's arrange to meet back here around a certain time..."  
  
Tuck nodded, and the pair walked to the foyer, Sam still carrying the Fentonfinder. Since Sam's hands were full, Tuck reached out to open the door for her. Pulling the door back, he and Sam saw something that pretty much made them freeze in their tracks...  
  
Jazmine stood there, out on the sidewalk, staring in awe at the hole in the side of the house. Sam and Tuck remained standing in the entranceway, watching her, who after a while noticed them standing there and turned her attention to them. She saw the large metal contraption in Sam's hands, and it was apparent from her facial expression that a conclusion was forming in her mind. Before he could allow her to start asking questions, Tuck stepped forward to explain.  
  
"Uh, we thought we'd come over and... drop Danny's homework off for him. Then your dad let us borrow one of his gadgets to check for bugs..."  
  
Jazmine blinked, then raised a hand as if in protest.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait... Danny didn't come to school today?"  
  
"Well, he--"  
  
Sam interrupted once again, to prevent Tuck from saying something he shouldn't.  
  
"He was busy doing extracurricular activies to raise his grade in, um, Biology, so he ended up missing a couple of classes."  
  
Jazmine raised an eyebrow at Sam's explanation, considering the fact that the school had been closed for the week due to reconstruction and repairs resulting from the strange attack earlier that day. Since students weren't expected to be in class for a while, the teachers had chosen to cancel their homework assignments. It was obvious that both Sam and Tuck were lying, probably trying to cover for Danny being absent for some reason. On the other hand, she didn't want to try and pull the truth out of them; she didn't want them to know what she knew about Danny that they didn't want anyone to know.  
  
"Okay... I see. Well, thanks for doing that, I'm sure he'll appreciate it."  
  
Sam and Tuck nodded, then quickly ran past Jazmine and down the sidewalk, turning the corner and leaving her sight. She sighed and walked in the house, heading up the stairs toward Danny's bedroom. Upon entering his room, she spotted an important article of evidence that showed proof that Danny never left for school; his backpack still lay on the floor, next to his desk. She leaned against his doorframe, deep in thought. Then, she grabbed the backpack, along with a few sets of clothing out of Danny's drawers, then walked out of his room and into her room, and finally stuffed the backpack and clothes into her closet, underneath a pile of winter clothes.

* * *

Later that day, as the sun was setting in the red sky, Sam and Tuck sat together on a bus bound for a tourist area far north of Amity Park, up in the mountains. Outside the windows, the landscape had gradually changed from houses and farms to trees and more trees, and now the road was beginning to curve more as it wound its way over and around large hills. Sam held the Fentonfinder in her lap, holding it close. She leaned forward in her seat, her forehead resting on the back of the seat in front of her, her eyes closed. Tuck lay back in his seat, looking out the window, as if hoping that perhaps he would catch a glimpse of the Ghost Dragon flying overhead; even if it did end up swooping down and attacking them, at least he would be able to speak to Danny one last time...

* * *

The reflection of the giant winged monster passed over the surface of a secluded lake, far up in the mountains where clouds of mist hung just inches over the forest floor. Danny looked down at the image of the dragon, once again reminded of the creature's fearsome appearance; however, he did take notice into how this dragon was much leaner and better built for speed than any of the other dragons he had seen the amulet turn people into before. He wondered if the physique of the resulting dragon depended on the physical qualities of the person going under the amulet's spell. The first dragon he encountered was of a ghost maiden who had a rather reasonable body shape, and her dragon form could just barely fit through the Fentonportal as it entered the lab from the Ghost Zone. The second dragon, whom he realized was actually Paulina, was much more heavier built. He knew for a fact that Paulina had a very attractive figure, so maybe it wasn't the person's physical appearance that ended up being reflected in the body of the dragon; the last dragon, which took over Sam, had a much slimmer shape than any of the other dragons before it, but then again, Sam was a vegetarian, so that may have determined how her dragon would look, since dragons were apparently carnivores.  
  
Thinking about the dragon's meat-eating nature brought him back to what took place just a few hours ago, when the dragon decided to have a lunch break in some farmer's cattle field. He couldn't bear to watch as the dragon ran about, chasing down individual cows and then tearing them apart for food. Eventually the farmer himself came out of his house, drove across the field in his tractor and stabbed the dragon a couple of times with a pitchfork to drive it away, which the dragon followed along with but not before setting fire to the farmer's tractor. It would be some time before the sound of a defenseless cow screaming out her last breath would cease its echoes in Danny's mind.  
  
He was brought back to the present by another sharp drop in altitude, seeing the trees flying up at him. Somewhere close to the lake, the dragon had spotted something in the mountainside that it liked. Danny turned to look, and saw a number of large cavernous holes near the base of the mountain, a few of them probably large enough for the dragon to crawl into. The dragon wheeled about in the air, coming down for a landing on a rocky hillside close to the caves. A few trees were nearly pushed over by the gust coming off the dragon's wings, and any animals in the surrounding area quickly disappeared once the dragon's body came into their view. Once on the ground, the dragon started inspecting the holes in the rock, checking to see how far it would be able to walk into one on all fours before it had to turn around or walk backward to get out. It eventually settled in one wide, long cave that went in for a distance, then made a turn and came to a dead end in a space large enough for the dragon to lay down and curl up, which it finally did.  
  
Danny, who didn't feel the least bit tired, kept a vigil, waiting for the time when Sam and Tuck or anybody would come and find him there. Inside the cave, he had no sense of time, other than the light from outside hitting the tunnel wall where he could see it. As time ticked by, the light gradually faded away, until finally the sun set and the tunnel was plunged into darkness, pitch black save for the eerie, faint greenish-blue glow given off by the dragon. For a long time the only sound he could hear was the dragon's steady breathing. The sound gradually softened until it was barely audible as the dragon fell ever deeper into its slumber, either that or Danny just became used to it and eventually was able to block it out of his mind. He could hear other sounds, too: outside in the woods, at night, there were owls calling to each other, along with wolves howling. Even among these denizens of the moonlit forest, he still felt alone. As time wore on, the night became colder and colder.  
  
Suddenly, everything became silent. There was the snap of a twig. He shouted out mentally in desperation.  
  
"Sam! Tuck! Are you there?"  
  
A long moment of continued silence; then, a reply.  
  
"Danny! We're outside the caves. Which one is yours?"  
  
"I think it's the largest one. How are Mom and Dad?"  
  
"They're just fine. They don't know where you are, and neither does Jazz. We didn't know what to say to them to keep them from getting worried, but at least now you know they're okay."  
  
Danny felt like a great weight had been taken off his burdened spirit; his parents were still alive, or at least they were when Sam and Tuck last checked on them. That didn't mean much right now, but yes, it was good to know that they were all right, directly following the appearance of Bertrand and Spectra in his parents' lab. That could only mean that their plans didn't really involve killing his parents, and hopefully soon he would have time to think about what they were really up to.  
  
"Uh, Danny... Some of these caves are the same size. We haven't found yours yet."  
  
"I have an idea... Sam, are you using a flashlight?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Turn it off, and let your eyes get used to the darkness."  
  
There was silence for a while.  
  
"Is yours the one with the glow coming from it?"  
  
"That's the one. There's a place where it turns and opens up into a larger room. Don't worry about coming in, the dragon is sleeping."  
  
After a while, the sound of footsteps came from inside the tunnel, softly coming closer and closer. Finally, he saw the heads of his two best friends looking around the corner into the chamber.  
  
"Sam! Tuck! You have no idea how badly I've wanted to see you again..."  
  
The pair ran up to the dragon, looking it over. Then, Tuck spoke in a whispered tone that Danny could still hear the same as if he were talking out loud.  
  
"Danny? We can hear you, but... we can't see you, we only see the dragon."  
  
"I don't know why you can't see me, even I can't see me, but somehow I'm still able to talk to you... But quick, can you see the amulet?"  
  
He saw them come closer to where he was, without them knowing it, then they walked past him and stopped at a spot close to the back wall of the cave. Sam spoke in a whisper.  
  
"The dragon's laying in such a way that we won't be able to get to where the necklace comes apart in the back, not without stepping on its head or neck... We might be able to get it off it we pull at it until it unfastens on its own."  
  
"If it sounds like a good idea to you, then go ahead. I can't see what you're looking at, so there's really nothing I can do to help, sorry."  
  
"It's okay, Danny. You just sit down or kick back or whatever it is you can do that we won't be able to see you do... We'll have this amulet off in no time, and soon you'll be just your regular self. ... Well, in a sense."  
  
Tuck shrugged his shoulders. Danny knew what he meant by that last remark; he hadn't really been the same since the day he became gifted with ghost powers. Every day since then, he had ended up in many different predicaments, but neither of them had any place against the one he was in right now.  
  
Sam pointed to a spot directly in the corner of the cave.  
  
"Tuck, you get over there, where you can get at the other side of this thing."  
  
Tuck followed along with the order, stepping sideways along the back of the cave to get to where Sam directed him to go. They looked up at each other, then reached out and grabbed something Danny also could not see but could tell for sure was the golden necklace. At the count of three from Tuck, they began to pull.  
  
The pair strained against the shining metal band, but it refused to give. They stopped, rested for a moment, then began pulling on it again in unison. It remained intact. They stopped and rested for a bit longer.  
  
"Third time's a charm, Danny."  
  
"I hope you're right."  
  
Tuck pushed his fingers further underneath the necklace, as did Sam. They counted off again, then pulled even harder. Sam dug the heels of her boots into the dirt, curving her spine to try and provide more force to her pull. Tuck planted his feet firmly on the ground, curving his spine backwards, applying his force straight up and back. Danny thought he could just barely feel the necklace's fastener giving under the strain.  
  
Suddenly, Tuck's fingers slipped from the band, and he fell backwards against the cave wall. The force knocked his glasses from his face, landing on the ground. Sam also fell back from Tuck's loss of his grip, but she was able to get back up. However, in the darkness, Tuck was having trouble.  
  
"Hold up, Sam... Glasses fell off."  
  
Tuck began groping around for his eyewear. Sam stood up.  
  
"Wait, Tuck... Stay still. You might accidentally bump the dragon. I'm coming around to help you find them."  
  
Sam carefully approached Tuck, stepping around parts of the dragon that, like everything of the dragon, were invisible to Danny. He watched her move, hoping that Tuck would be able to get his glasses back on in time; in the darkness, Danny was also unable to spot where Tuck's glasses fell. He saw Sam pause in front of something, and from the way her eyes were following it, whatever it was, it was moving. He guessed it was the end of the dragon's tail, twitching about in the manner that a cat's tail does when the cat is asleep. Sam stepped back, apparently watching how it moved and trying to figure out how to determine when it was going to stay still.  
  
After a while, she stepped forward. The tail caught her in the ankle on a return swing, causing her to stumble forward, and she fell--but did not hit the ground. Danny's blood froze when he noticed how Sam seemed to be hanging in midair.  
  
There was a deep, low growl, and the room suddenly became brighter from the glow coming off the awakened Ghost Dragon. Sam screamed as the dragon pulled its neck back, raising its head up off the ground. She wrapped her arms and legs around the dragon's snout, which she had fallen across when she tripped. She shut her eyes tightly, and screamed even louder as the dragon began shaking its head, trying to fling her off. Down below, Tuck quickly snatched up his glasses and dove out of the way as one of the dragon's forelegs slammed down where he was sitting a few seconds before. The long tail lashed about, whipping the ground and the walls, sending dust everywhere.  
  
The dragon bowed its head, then swung its neck hard to the side. Sam was thrown off; she slammed hard against the cave wall, then fell to the ground. Her eyes were shut. She did not move.  
  
Roaring, the dragon shook its head about, as if to readjust the skin on its face where Sam's arms and legs had clung to it before. It then turned its attention to Sam's body, turning to face it and approaching it, step by step. Tuck backed up against the wall, eyes wide with terror, mouth open in a silent scream.  
  
Danny, seeing the prone form of Sam and the petrified Tuck, felt a strange feeling welling up inside him; not one of fear, or even of hatred, but one like a fire that began burning brighter deep within his soul, a fire that only responded to a situation where he felt that everything that ever meant anything to him was laid out before him and was being threatened with destruction. He wasn't sure what it was, but it made him feel immensely strong... it overwhelmed him, spreading out to every fiber of his being, or what he knew was left of it... It was the feeling he had every time he was compelled to switch to ghost mode; he knew that for a fact. He immediately summoned the powers within him to convert his entire essence to that of spirit.  
  
Then, something amazing happened.  
  
The dragon stopped in its tracks, distracted by an enormous ring of light that just seemed to burst outward from its center without harming it. A humming sound filled the air, growing louder as the ring began to split in two, forming a pair of rings that began to travel in two different directions; one headed up toward the cave ceiling, while the other headed down toward the floor. The ground underneath and the walls surrounding began to vibrate. Danny felt something tugging at him from the center, but as the rings began to move, the pull intensified, as though he was being ripped out of the center of the dragon's essence in every direction. At the same time, there was an immense pressure on his body, as if an outer shell was tightening around him, creating a barrier where there was nothing between the inside and the outside of himself. The top ring finally disappeared against the ceiling; the bottom one faded into the floor. The humming died down and became silent, the tremors softened and then stopped. The pulling and pushing ceased, and for a moment, Danny felt nothing.  
  
Then it was like all five senses came back to him in full force. Gravity once more had its way with him. There was no strength in his legs, and they buckled underneath him. Danny fell to his knees, suddenly feeling incredibly heavy. He lost balance and fell forward. He tried to catch himself with his arms and hands, but they gave underneath him, offering no support, and he collapsed full-length against the cave floor. The side of his head hit something hard, and he saw a bright, dazzling starburst... then the world became black.


	4. Chapter 4

Jazmine sat up in bed with a start. Sweat trickled down her body, and her heart was pounding. She looked around her darkened bedroom. Nothing moved about within in her sight, and the only sound she could hear was her own frightened breathing. Giving herself some time to calm down, she then got out of bed and walked to the window, looking out on the night.  
  
The lights of central Amity Park sparkled in the distance. She looked up into the sky, which glittered with the light of thousands of stars, shimmering like diamonds in the absence of the moon. She knelt down before the window, staring up into the star-strewn sky. She held her hands together in silent prayer. Wherever her little brother was, she sincerely hoped beyond any other hope that he was all right.

* * *

A soft white light crept under Danny's eyelids. He felt a dull ache in the side of his head. As his awareness of the outside world gradually returned to him, he noticed that he was laying on his stomach, but not face-down on the ground. His arms lay at his sides. He concentrated his energy toward moving them, getting his hands underneath him, in order to raise his chest up off the ground. Slowly he managed to bring himself into a position where he could do so, but when he went to push himself upwards, he felt an unusual weight in his neck, which seemed to keep his head down where it lay. He pulled himself back, and his chin dragged the ground, until he found a muscle in the back of his neck that allowed him to make his neck arch, bringing his head up, then holding it up over his body, where he was used to it being. With that out of the way, he was able to get up on his knees, leaning backward on his heels. However, his legs felt different from their usual structure; his ankles were too long for him to lean back on his heels, so he brought one leg under him, leaning his weight on ohe foot, then bringing the other leg up under him so that he could stand up. His back arched, so he stood upright, then suddenly felt a hard tug on his spine, pulling him backwards and down. Unable to remain standing upright under the heavy pulling, he lost balance and fell over backwards, landing with a loud, resounding thud. Something ended up being crushed underneath him. He sat up, which took less effort than trying to get up on his knees, and felt around behind him; his hands met what felt like a pair of extra limbs that seemed to have sprouted right out of his shoulder blades, limbs that bore a broad, thick skin membrane that extended from beneath his shoulder blade to the very end of the limb. Wings. He felt something else beneath him as he sat up, and he reached down behind him, only to find a long tail that curved outward from the base of his spine and lay out on the ground like a large, bony snake.  
  
He blinked his eyes, trying to bring his surroundings into focus. He found himself sitting in a dimly-lit chamber, the walls going up and meeting the ceiling not far above his head. Wondering where he was, he crossed his arms over his knees. It was then that he noticed a glow coming off of his skin, and he looked down at his hands. His eyebrows furrowed. These couldn't be his hands; they were bright white and only had four fingers each, plus each finger was tipped with a menacing-looking yellow claw. He held out an arm and looked at it. Just before the elbow, the skin turned from white to black in a straight division, as if he were wearing a glove. He arched his neck, his eyes traveling up his arm to his shoulder, where he noticed another area that was completely white, separated from the black by a curve that went down from each shoulder and met just at the upper ridge of his sternum, with the white part extending the length of his neck.  
  
His mind halted for a moment. He had never seen his chest and neck from this perspective; he had always seen it this way when looking in a mirror. He felt around his neck and discovered that it was much longer than he thought it was; he had to crane it downwards in order to touch his face. Then his fingers met features he never knew he had: a pair of fin-like structures that stuck out where he knew ears should have gone, a pair of long spikes the protruded from the back of his skull, a scaly fringe that ran from his forehead down the back of his neck, and a face that went outward from his eyes, a reptilian snout resting on the end. Inside his mouth were several sharp teeth and a forked tongue.  
  
He held his hands out in front of him again, his mind still muddled. He tried to remember what had happened before he fell unconscious, but not much came to him; everything else seemed to have faded into obscurity. He vaguely remembered seeing a bright flash of light, but that could have just been his imagination. Then he remembered that he himself had brought forward the light... He had forced it out from himself, and it took the shape of a ring... Someone was laying on the ground in front of him, and it was because of seeing that person, he was able to call forth the light.  
  
Suddenly, a flash of images shattered his mental inertness, and he remembered everything... Almost everything. He had attempted to switch to ghost mode to prevent the dragon that had taken over his body from getting any closer to Sam...  
  
Sam!  
  
"Sam, where are--"  
  
His voice caught in his throat. The last time he had heard it, he was in the lab back home, facing Bertrand. Somehow or another, his voice had come back. He could also feel his feet touching the ground, something he had not felt for a long time. He looked down toward his feet, and his heart nearly leaped up into his throat.  
  
Those were not his legs and feet, those were the legs and feet of something reptilian, like the Ghost Dragon he had seen long before, like the one he saw in the reflection in the lake just a while ago. But yet they were clothed in the uniform he always ended up wearing whenever he switched to ghost mode, save for each foot ending in three toes, each toe ending in a large yellow claw. These were not the legs and feet of a human, but they were his...  
  
He looked at his four-fingered clawed hands. Those were dragon hands, yet they were still his hands. He was able to control their movements; so somehow he had gained control of the body of the Ghost Dragon, which before had complete control of him. He got up on his feet again, being careful to lean forward so that the weight of the wings and tail behind him would counterbalance his forward weight. He turned his head and looked at his large wings, which had a white membrane connected with black ribs, the main limb being black as well.  
  
Going ghost gave him complete control over the body of the Ghost Dragon. However, doing so didn't return him to his normal state; it turned him into a dragon. A dragon that was somehow also part ghost and part human.  
  
As he turned back around to look at his tail, something on the ground caught his eye. He looked down, where the chamber opened up into a passageway, and saw what looked like some kind of doll. A doll that was standing up by itself and was now slowly moving back against the cave wall, a doll that looked like someone he knew...  
  
"...Tuck?"  
  
The doll blinked, mouth agape. It looked like it was trying to speak, but it was choking on its words.  
  
"Yes...?"  
  
Danny turned to face the doll, then got down on his hands and knees to get a closer look at it. The doll cried out in surprise and pressed its back against the cave wall, covering its head with its arms and curling its body into a fetal position, shivering. No, this wasn't a doll of Tuck; this was Tuck himself. Danny remembered how large the Ghost Dragon was compared to everything around it, and now that he had taken the form of the dragon, he was seeing everything from the dragon's point of view, as if people were miniatures from a dollhouse.  
  
"It's okay, Tuck, don't be afraid... It's me, Danny."  
  
Tuck moved one arm, looking at Danny. He looked him up and down, seeming to see a resemblance that Danny had yet to notice, except for the fact that he was wearing the black and white jumpsuit normally worn by Danny Phantom. Tuck's arms dropped to his sides, and he got up off the ground, standing to face Danny.  
  
"Danny? ... Is it really you in there?"  
  
Tuck walked up to Danny, staring up at him in astonishment. Danny smiled.  
  
"Yes, it's me."  
  
"But,,, how?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, but when I tried to go ghost..."  
  
A memory suddenly raced through Danny's mind. He looked around him, toward the ground.  
  
"Wait. Where's Sam?"  
  
"Sam? She's down by the lake. I carried her there after you collapsed."  
  
Danny faced Tuck, a look of worry on his scaly face.  
  
"Is she all right?"  
  
"She's fine. She came to a short while after I got her out of the cave. Right now she's washing the dirt and blood off of her by the lakeside. I left her to come check on you, I knew something had happened when the dragon fell down after somehow or another going ghost."  
  
Danny's mind lingered on the word "blood". He hoped that her getting thrown by the dragon didn't damage her too badly. He didn't want any of his friends to get hurt, especially when they were trying to help him by restoring him to his human form...  
  
Danny froze. He reached up with one hand to touch his neck, where the amulet should have been, even though he knew he had looked there before and yet did not see it. He frantically felt all around his neck and shoulders with both hands, but felt no amulet; he even pressed down on the cloth around his neck, thinking that maybe the amulet was underneath the uniform. It wasn't.  
  
"Tuck...! The amulet... It's gone!"  
  
Tuck stared up at Danny in shock.  
  
"Then... why are you still a dragon?" 


	5. Chapter 5

Sam sat on the grass, leaning back against the trunk of a tree. The night was still, and the surface of the lake before her was calm, unbroken by even the slightest stir of wind. Every single star in the sky seemed to be reflected in the lake.  
  
Sam lifted the cloth to her head, rubbing at the place on the back of her head where it ached the most. She had been bleeding for a short while, where her head struck the wall, but now it was starting to heal, and she no longer had to apply pressure to the small wound.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a vibration, a small tremor that shook the earth beneath her for a moment, causing the water at the shore to ripple. Everything became quiet again, then she heard voices, coming from the forest, far behind her. She leapt to her feet and backed up against the tree, waiting, tense. She hoped no one had followed her and Tuck up into this part of the mountains, for the sake of Danny, even though he was possessed by the spirit of a terrible monster that was perfectly capable of defending itself if it ever came under attack. But still, if news of the dragon got out, that would mean some kind of a federal investigation, which she knew Danny really didn't want to happen.  
  
The treetops suddenly swayed toward the lake, as if an enormous gust of wind had hit them from above. Almost immediately afterwards, something huge streaked across the sky, flying out over the lake on a pair of large wings, giving off a white glow. Near the center of the lake, it began to turn, beating its wings furiously, seemingly heading back where it had come. It didn't take Sam much time to recognize the size and shape of the dragon. As it completed its wide turn over the water, it curved its neck to look in her direction. Her eyes met the fiercely glowing green eyes of the winged leviathan, and it was then that she knew that it had spotted her. Then the creature's eyes blinked, and it looked down, is if it had also spotted its reflection in the water. It suddenly made a strange jerking motion in the air, then fell from the sky, landing with a tremendous splash in the lake below.  
  
Sam turned and ran back through the dark forest, screaming at the top of her lungs. Tripping on a rock, she fell down hard on her knees and wrists, then scrambled to get back up again, her chest heaving. She heard the resulting wave break against the shore behind her. She leapt to her feet and took off running, looking back over her shoulder at the lake, which was illuminated from beneath by the submerged monster. Suddenly she crashed into something that reached out and grabbed her shoulders, wrapping one arm around her back, holding her still. She struggled to break free of the bond, but stopped when she heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Sam! Sam, calm down! It's all right!"  
  
She looked up and saw Tuck's face, lit solely by the glow from the lake. Her heartrate began to slow down. Tuck loosened his grip on her.  
  
"It's all right. We'll be fine; that dragon is not going to hurt you."  
  
She wrenched herself free from Tuck's hold on her, then spun to face the lake. The surface still rippled greatly, still recovering from the sudden disturbance. Suddenly, the dragon's head broke the surface, facing upwards, its mouth open in a loud gasp for air. Within a moment, it had caught its breath, shook the water from its head, and started moving toward the shore. The water rolled off and away from its body as it began to approach Sam and Tuck, step by arduous step.  
  
Sam turned to look at Tuck, confused. She turned her attention back on the dragon, which was watching her as it steadily made its way toward dry land. It seemed to be happy to see her, but the look on its greenish-blue face also displayed a sense of austere concern, much unlike anything she had ever seen from the Ghost Dragon from before. As it stepped into more shallow waters, Sam could see more of its body, which seemed to be clothed in a black and white jumpsuit that struck an all-too-familiar tone in her mind. She ran toward the lake shore, leaving Tuck behind.  
  
The dragon rose up on its hind legs before her, letting its wings droop down to its sides. It stood still, looking down on her, the worried look remaining on its face. Sam looked upon its body, a sense of amazement emanating within her mind. Although the creature standing before her was clearly a dragon ghost, its appearance seemed familiar in a different, more friendly manner. Aside from the fact that it appeared to be wearing the monochrome uniform she was used to seeing almost on a daily basis, the spinal fringe of ivory-colored scales that lined its back also went up and over the dragon's head, the shape of the cascading white scales resembling locks and bangs of hair, a hairstyle that she could clearly associate with a close friend of hers. The glowing eyes that had instilled a sense of terror in her before now seemed commonplace to her. Suddenly, the dragon no longer seemed threatening; instead, it was like she was looking at someone she had known for most of her life.  
  
"...Danny?"  
  
The dragon closed its mouth and swallowed, closed its eyes for a moment, then nodded its head.  
  
Sam dashed out into the shallow water as Danny lowered his head, following her movement. She stopped just in front of him, reaching up, touching the end of Danny's cold, scaly nose. He lowered his head further, and she leapt and wrapped her arms around his face, pulling his head down into a full embrace. She closed her eyes and buried her face against the bridge of Danny's nose. He had to cross his eyes in order to see her.  
  
"What's happened to you, Danny...? Why can't we... change you back... that stupid amulet..."  
  
She was clearly in pain, having seen Danny still not back to his normal self, yet still bearing the outer image of the Ghost Dragon. Danny, whose spirit had been lifted from seeing Sam alive after what he had seen happen back in the cave, suddenly felt his heart fall to the pit of his stomach. With things going they way they had been for him recently, what else lay in store for him in the future, when he would plan on returning to Amity Park to see his parents again? Would he be able to approach them, him being what he was now? Would he even be able to make his way back home without causing a problem among the citizens of Amity Park, just by the reactions they would get by seeing him? And yet, what about Spectra and Bertrand? Would what he had now become have anything to do with whatever plans they had laid out for him?  
  
Would life for him ever be normal again? 


	6. Chapter 6

Danny closed his eyes. Sam continued to hug his face, shuddering. Then he felt her hand on his head, feeling down the scales on his cranial fringe. They seemed to give very easily under her hand, and Danny wondered if they weren't scales at all, but his actual hair. He opened his eyes, looking down on Sam, whose arm was still raised to touch the strands of ivory that cascaded down his forehead. After a while, Sam lifted her head, opened her eyes, and gazed into his. He could tell by the small streaks on her face that she had been crying.  
  
"I'm sorry if I upset you, Danny... I want you to know... I'm still very, very happy to see you."  
  
Danny swallowed again, bowing his head.  
  
"Same here..."  
  
Sam suddenly let go, backing away, almost stumbling backward in the water. Danny lifted his head, confused. He looked around for anything that might have just leapt out of the shadows and startled Sam, but he saw nothing. He looked back at Sam, who stood there, staring with astonishment at Danny. He blinked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You... you can talk!"  
  
At that moment, Tuck came splashing up beside her, then put his hand on her shoulder. He held his other hand up in a gesture at Danny, as if introducing him to Sam to the first time.  
  
"It's Danny Phantom, part human, part ghost, and part dragon... it's Danny Dragon! OW! ...You know, you could have just punched me in the arm like you usually do..."  
  
Tuck put a hand to the side of his face, where Sam slapped him. Sam turned to face him, her hands on her hips.  
  
"You think this is funny? He might end up being stuck like this forever!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry... Honestly, I don't think it's funny at all..."  
  
Sam opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by something brushing against her feet. She looked down, through the water, and saw a long tail being dragged past her. She looked up, and turned around to look behind her. Danny was walking back to shore, having already passed them while they were talking. His wings were still hanging down his sides, the ends dragging in the water. His head hung from his long neck in a despondent manner.  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
Sam took off running after Danny; Tuck followed. She headed Danny off as he was stepping onto the dry shore, apparently on his way into the forest. She stopped in front of him, holding her arms out like an officer about to direct traffic. Danny stopped in mid-step, put his foot back down, and opened his eyes just the slightest bit, his glowing pupils focused on Sam. She stood firm, returning his gaze. He sighed, closed his eyes.  
  
"It's no use, Sam... You're right, I'm going to be stuck in this dragon body for as long as I live. I can't go back home like this. There's no place for me anywhere except hiding back in that cave--"  
  
"DON'T SAY THAT! You are NOT going to give up on yourself like that! As long as I'm here, as long both Tuck and I are here with you, you're not going to give up on yourself. We're going to stay here with you... We're going to help figure out a way to fix everything. We're not going to leave you behind, we're not going to give up on you."  
  
He was startled out of speech by Sam's yelling. She continued to stare into his eyes, getting her breath back. She shook her head.  
  
"You've never given up on us. Never. We're not going to give up on you."  
  
Danny sighed. He looked down at the water, where his reflection looked back at him. No, he had never given up on his friends, no matter the situation, no matter what the consequences would have been. It wasn't in the right to think that he had been defeated when he had friends who appreciated him for what he was, no matter what he had become.  
  
The glowing image he gazed upon was suddenly interrupted by ripples; Tuck walked up next to Sam, looking up at Danny apologetically.  
  
"Look, Danny, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything... Really, I didn't. Please let me make it up to you. I want to see you back to normal as much as Sam does, probably as much as you."  
  
Danny looked at Tuck. He could often see the sincerity in his eyes, even when it hardly ever came out of his mouth. He knew his friends had made their point clear; they were sticking with him for the long run, no matter what lay in store for either of them. Who could ask for better friends? He smiled, a few of his fangs showing without his notice, and then held one clawed hand out to Sam and Tuck, who reached out and touched his palm with their hands. A pact had been made.

* * *

Bertrand was startled awake. Down below, something had brushed against the trunk of the tree he was perched in, causing it to shake. Ruffling his feathers, he opened his glowing red eyes and looked down from his perch, high up in the branches of a pine tree.  
  
For a moment, he thought he was just looking at the Ghost Dragon that had retreated into the caves to take a nap, several hours ago. But this dragon looked different. More than that, it acted different; those two humans down there in front of it, appearing to be leading it towards a wide clearing near the caves, should have been dead in the presence of that monster. But why don't they seem the least bit frightened? Why isn't the dragon attacking them?  
  
His questions were answered once the dragon suddenly turned its head to look back toward the lake, a stream of glowing blue vapor leaving its mouth.  
  
"That little runt... He's figured out how to control the dragon! Spectra's not going to be happy about this..."  
  
With that, Bertrand flapped his silent wings, lifting off and flying away noiselessly into the night.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to try and make it back with Danny? He isn't exactly an expert at flying yet... Well, that kind of flying, not the kind of flying he's been doing up 'til now. I thought maybe he could try and follow us behind the bus."  
  
"Look, Tuck, I don't mind if one of us takes the bus back... One of us will have to, considering all the equipment we brought along with us. But someone is going to have to stay with Danny to make sure nothing happens to him on the way back. And I volunteer. Besides, I did tell you to bring your webcam... You DID remember to snag it before you left the house, right?"  
  
Tuck dug into his backpack and pulled out his PDA and miniature camera headset. He and Sam had been discussing methods of returning to Amity Park with Danny. Since it took over two hours to get to where they were by bus, they threw out the idea of walking back. Since their original plans included getting the amulet off of Danny, then taking him back on the bus, they both had round-trip tickets; but now that there was no way of removing the amulet, seeing as how it had somehow disappeared, that and the fact that Danny was now too large to ride the bus, they had to reconsider that idea as well. Tuck brought up the notion of having Danny sit on top of the bus, but Danny himself turned that one down, saying that he was afraid he might accidentally crush the vehicle's frame and put the bus out of commission, which would also put Sam and Tuck out of a ride. Finally, Sam suggested that since Danny was capable of flying on his own, she should be able to ride on Danny's back and let Tuck take the bus. And since Tuck had a means of keeping in touch with them, they wouldn't lose each other on the way back to the city.  
  
"But wait a minute... We totally forgot about something. We can't let Danny be seen by anybody! Even if he was following the bus in the air, at this time of night and with the moon in its current stage, he would pretty much be the only light source up there. I mean, his glowing in the dark wasn't all that noticible before, but now he's shining like a beacon."  
  
It was true; Danny's skin always gave off a faint aura when he went into ghost mode. Since his size had increased, so had the intensity of the aura. Sam, looking at Danny, reasoned that she could probably read a book under him.  
  
"Yet before now, he could just make himself invisible... Did he really lose all his powers when the amulet took control of him?"  
  
"Actually, I haven't even tried using any of my powers... I thought maybe they had been shut off. Let me give it a shot..."  
  
Danny closed his eyes and lowered his head, concentrating. Sam and Tuck watched him with interest. After a while, his aura began to shine brighter. Suddenly, there was no Danny, just a glowing outline, which faded away almost immediately afterwards. Sam and Tuck were left sitting in the darkness. Everything became eerily quiet. Then a loud, booming voice over their heads startled them out of their wits.  
  
"Hey! It worked!"  
  
The aura reappeared, then all color and form returned to Danny. He was standing up, looking rather triumphant. Sam then stood up, putting her hands together, looking at Tuck.  
  
"Since he figured out how to go invisible, then maybe his other abilities will return to him as well. But for right now, invisibility is all we'll need..."

* * *

A long while and a long walk later, Sam and Tuck were standing inside a shelter by the highway, waiting on the next bus. It was still dark outside, but in a couple of hours, the sun was scheduled to rise. Overhead and invisible, Danny practiced flying. Although unable to see himself, he could feel the wind against his skin, and it was enough for him to be able to tell if he was holding his wings up right. After a while, he descended and landed for a rest, being careful not to scratch the ground or make any noise with his wings, lest he attract the attention of anyone else nearby; the bus shelter stood in front of a building that served as an information depot for visitors traveling through the mountains. There were a few cars parked outside.  
  
Danny sat down next to the shelter, looking up toward the starlit heavens. Sam and Tuck heard him sigh out of boredom. He raised his arm and pointed with one claw toward the stars and, even though he couldn't see his arm or claw, began pointing out familiar patterns in the sky to himself. A moment later, Sam and Tuck heard him speak to them in a low whisper.  
  
"Right up over your heads... That's Orion."  
  
"You know constellations?"  
  
"It comes with aspiring to be an astronaut. I also know the planets. That really bright star in front of you is Jupiter."  
  
Sam looked off into the distance; Jupiter was shining in the east, having just risen an hour ago.  
  
"Guess I never noticed. It must be very handy to know if you ever get lost..."  
  
Tuck was in the middle of imagining what an astronaut suit built for a dragon would look like when two bright lights shone down the road, coming around the corner and approaching the bus stop.  
  
"Bus is here... Alright, Sam, you go ahead and put on that headset; make sure the camera's turned on. I'll take the Fentonfinder and the PDA with me, so that I'll know where you are at all times. I'll be keeping in touch with you every now and then so that neither of us will attract attention. Okay?"  
  
Sam nodded, and Tuck was sure that Danny was positive as well. The bus pulled to a stop in front of the shelter, opening its front doors. Tuck lifted the backpack and slung a strap over his shoulder, walking up to the bus. The driver looked at him, then behind him at Sam, who was still sitting under the shelter.  
  
"She don't need a ride?"  
  
Tuck blinked, looked over his shoulder at Sam, then shrugged.  
  
"Um... uh... No, sir... I think she's waiting for another ride..."  
  
The driver gave Tuck a suspecting look, then waved him on. Tuck hurried to a seat at the back of the bus, where he sat down, sliding his backpack off to the side where he could start unloading it. The bus started to move. Tuck looked out the window at Sam, giving her the thumbs-up signal. Sam returned the gesture. She remained sitting there, watching the bus as it pulled away, waiting until it disappeared around the next corner. Once the bus was out of sight, she leapt up, looking around her to make sure no one was watching.  
  
"Alright, Danny... Now we need to find some place where we can take off without anyone seeing us."  
  
She took another survey of her surroundings, then looked off into the woods behind the tourist building. She motioned to Danny.  
  
"Follow me."  
  
She took off running toward the back of the building, slowing down to look at something on the back walls. Danny carefully rose to his feet, walking over to Sam, trying to keep from making any noise with his footsteps. Sam went around behind the building, then came running back, accidentally slamming into Danny's invisible leg. Danny reached down with one hand to steady her as she got back up.  
  
"Ow... Behind the building... No windows. We can go into the trees behind it without being seen."  
  
"But, I..."  
  
"...Can't be seen anyway, right. But I need to be able to see you in order to climb up on you. It shouldn't take me long, and after that, you can just go invisible again."  
  
"And with you... on my back... no one would see you, either. I can make both of us go invisible at once."  
  
"...Didn't think of that. That would be even better. Come on, someone's driving up into the parking lot..."  
  
Danny turned his head to see a car pulling up into a space in front of the building. Turning back to the forest, he got down on all fours, moving quickly and silently toward the trees, Sam in front of him. Carefully, he brushed aside a few tree trunks that were barring his movement, and managed to squeeze himself through. He continued to follow Sam through the dense wood until she found a clearing deep inside the forest.  
  
Sam stepped aside, giving Danny room to move. He stepped into the middle of the clearing, adjusting his wings so that he would be able to move them when he was ready to take off, then lifted his spectral shroud, making himself visible again. The area was suddenly illuminated brightly from his aura.  
  
Danny then laid down on his stomach, keeping his arms and legs underneath him, laying his neck out on the ground.  
  
"Ready."  
  
Sam walked up to Danny, approaching his arm. She hesitated for a moment, then gingerly stepped up onto Danny's shoulder. She reached down to grab hold of the cloth around the base of his neck; it felt like ice under her hand.  
  
"Gee, Danny, you're so cold... Is this how it's always been with you?"  
  
Danny realized another change that had come over him. No longer a mammal, but a reptile, he was now cold-blooded, and the fact that he was part ghost didn't help any when it came to his external temperature. Sam was going to be in for a chilling ride.  
  
Sam finally managed to get into a comfortable position on Danny's back. She settled down at the base of his neck, on his first thoracic vertebra. She let her legs hang down off his clavicle, straddling his shoulders like one would straddle a horse's back. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around what she could of his thick white-collared neck, clamping herself down on him tightly. Danny could feel the grip she had on him.  
  
"Ready..."  
  
Sam closed her eyes, feeling less and less confident in her decision as time ticked by. Danny raised his neck, getting up on his hind legs, then crouching down on them, arching his back and raising his wings. Sam felt her balance shifting, and she opened her eyes just to see her support fade from sight directly underneath her. Danny had gone invisible again.  
  
"Alright... Now, hold on..."  
  
He raised his wings, then brought them down hard, causing the trees and bushes to lean away from the clearing from the gust coming off his wings. He raised them again.  
  
"Here... we... go!!"  
  
He shoved down hard with his legs, and leapt up into the air. He then brought his wings back down, much harder this time, and he shot up into the sky, clearing the treetops. Straightening himself, he flapped his wings to gain altitude, having memorized the movements of the Ghost Dragon that had controlled his body before. Soon, the trees below him became indistinguishable from one another, coming together in one large mass that shrouded the road, surrounding the white mountains and flat lakes. Up among the clouds, he leveled out, holding out his wings to catch whatever warm air current he could find. As if switching to autopilot, he let his wings glide along the thermal, refraining from moving them until the time came when he would have to move to a different thermal. His tail, riding on the current, streamed behind him like a rudder.  
  
Feeling the wind against his face, he let his concentration slip away, allowing himself to enjoy it. He could barely feel Sam clamping down on the back of his neck. Worried that perhaps she had fallen off without him noticing, he tilted his wings downward, bringing him up above the clouds, where the only visible lights were the stars above. He had never brought Sam up this high; he never had the strength to carry anyone for very far before. Bringing himself back upon the visible plane, he turned his head to look at Sam. She lay face-down on his shoulders, clinging white-knuckled to the back of his uniform, her eyes screwed shut. Danny smiled out of pity.  
  
"It's okay, Sam... Really, you can open your eyes now."  
  
Sam loosened her grip the slightest bit. She turned her head to the side, and Danny could see her eyes half-open. He thought he heard her say something, then he realized that she had been speaking into the device on her headset. It was too faint for him to hear; he guessed that she had been getting audial support from Tuck, who was trying to calm her down. After a while, she raised her head, leaning back in her seat, and looked around her. Her eyes opened fully.  
  
"Wow..."  
  
Up above her was nothing but stars, clearer than she had ever seen them; below, she and Danny were gliding just above a widespread meadow of crystal blue. She looked up, noticing Danny watching her. He grinned, then turned to look forward, tilting himself downward so that they soon were partly submerged in the cloudbank. The white vapor streamed around his body, enveloping Sam, who felt gradually calmed by the cooling mist. She leaned back until she sat nearly upright, keeping her legs clamped down on Danny's shoulders for support. She almost cried out in surprise when she saw Danny fading away again beneath her, leaving behind his glowing aura for a moment before disppearing completely. Then she felt him descending again, and they left the clouds behind them, flying out over the landscape. Above were the clouds and the stars; below were the mountains and the lights of the towns and roads below, the shining dots forming patterns similar to the threads of a spider's web.  
  
She could feel the wind against her body, but saw nothing of herself, nor of Danny underneath her. Feeling secure in her position, she loosened her grip with her hands on Danny's neck, until she had completely let go. She sat upright, leaning back, and spread her arms out, closing her eyes. Feeling the wind in her arms, she was content, and she smiled. As Danny followed the highway below from his place in the sky, they continued southward, and for the time being, Sam really did find herself as the Goth Bird of Happiness.

* * *

It was a long time until Danny spoke up, and Sam had to return to her senses.  
  
"Right in front of us, off in the distance... I can see skyscrapers. I think we're almost home."  
  
He began to descend, and then Sam could see what he was calling attention to; there before them were the lights of the city, surrounded by roads and streetlights that marked out the suburbs. Behind the city, she could see the harbor, where the land met the water. The waters' surface sparkled like a million jewels with the light of the stars. He was right; they were close to Amity Park, and within the hour they would be home.  
  
She was suddenly distracted by the light from Danny's aura; he became visible around her, his neck craned to the side, as if he were looking for something.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Danny turned to look behind him, a worried expression on his face. Sam could see the stream of spectral vapor leaving his mouth.  
  
When his ghost sense had gone off back in the forest, they saw nothing, and no ghost attacked them. Way up here, for a ghost to be close enough to activate Danny's sense, it would have to be flying right alongside them--  
  
WHAM!!  
  
Something struck Danny hard on the back of his neck, causing him to nearly lose his balance. He stretched his wings out, catching the air before he could fall out of the sky. He raised his head up to look around, and was greeted by a pair of glowing red eyes looking at him, upside down, from on top of his head.  
  
"Well look, if it isn't the little loser. Or should I say, the BIG loser!"  
  
Bertrand shoved down on Danny's head, having grabbed onto his horns. Danny shook his head from side to side, trying to dislodge him. He finally let go, flying in front of Danny, where he could see that the shapeshifting ghost had taken the form of a large owl. Bertrand wheeled about in the air, coming in for another attack. Danny swiftly turned his body to descend, hearing Sam screaming from her place on his back. As long as she was able to hold on, there was a chance that he could possibly outmaneuver Bertrand in the air without accidentally throwing her off.  
  
He could see the ghost turning to come at him, his talons bared. Danny dove straight down, missing the attack. He heard a loud screech, then felt something clawing at his left wing. Flinging both wings out, he slowed down sharply, then wheeled and turned around in mid-air, heading back up towards the clouds. He felt Bertrand grab hold of the end of his tail.  
  
He immediately changed direction, tilting backward so that he ended up flying upside down, then tilting back again, forming a wide loop. Leaning his head back, he could see Bertrand hanging onto the large scales that formed a tuft at the end of his tail, clamped down on them with his talons. He was holding his wings out, apparently trying to slow Danny down so that he would stall in the air.  
  
Danny turned more sharply, bringing his next loop closer. He had a straight shot at Bertrand now. He sucked in a deep breath, feeling a burning sensation in his neck, then opened his mouth wide and exhaled as hard as he could. A gigantic jet of bright emerald-green dragon flame erupted from his mouth. He tilted his head to the side, and the blast hit Bertrand dead center.  
  
Engulfed in the glowing flames, Bertrand let go of Danny, beating himself with his wings to try and put out the fire. Without any means of staying airborne, he plunged toward the ground. Just before he struck the ground, however, he flung his wings out, catching the wind and sailing out into the trees, disappearing into the forest.  
  
Danny righted himself in the air, flapping his wings to regain altitude. He was soon able to catch an air current under his wings, and he let himself glide upon it. It was only after the sound of his own heart pounding had died away that he heard Sam whimpering and shivering on his back. He turned his head to look at her; she was once again clamped down hard around his neck and shoulders.  
  
"Sam... You all right?"  
  
"...Down... NOW..."  
  
He quietly obliged, tilting his wings upward so that the air rolled past them with less effort. He carefully made his descent, finding a large orchard with tall trees on the outskirts of the city to land in. Trying to keep himself steady so as to prevent Sam from getting any more airsick, he slowed down enough that he landed on the ground between the trees without incident.  
  
Down on all fours, he laid down on the grass, allowing Sam to slide off his neck. She landed standing, then dropped to her knees, then finally lay out on the ground, as though hugging it. Danny imagined that he had felt the same way she did at one time, like after having ridden some kind of fast-moving carnival ride. He tried to get up onto his feet, but suddenly no longer felt any strength; his adrenaline had subsided like the tide after a storm, and he was left with aching muscles all over his body. So he flopped over to the side, opposite from where Sam lay, and let all his tired limbs lay out upon the ground.  
  
One side of his face on the grass, he could only see Sam from the corner of his eye. She continued to lay there, spread-eagle against the ground. She wasn't breathing as hard as she was before; she was beginning to calm down. Even though, she was probably still very dizzy. Danny noticed that her webcam headset was missing. Evidently it had been knocked off during the fight. There was no telling where it had landed, and there was no use in searching for it, as it had probably been smashed to pieces after falling from that height.  
  
He shifted his gaze, looking out through the trees in the orchard, seeing the lights of Amity Park off in the distance. After they had taken enough time to rest, they were going to have to continue on toward the city. He knew for a fact that Sam would prefer walking to flying; he would propose to carry her there anyway, having himself do all the walking, seeing as how she had spent most of the previous day running everywhere with Tuck to try and find him. It wouldn't take too long to get to his neighborhood on his legs, compared to the legs of a human.  
  
Having sorted out the plans for tomorrow, he finally closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off into a dreamless sleep, something that had been denied him for long enough.


	7. Chapter 7

All down the street, there were no lights, save for the corner streetlamps. Asleep in his upstairs bedroom lay Tucker, clothed in his nightwear, laying in bed with the covers tossed to the side. In his arms he cradled the Fentonfinder. The LCD screen was still lit, the dull glow giving the interior of Tuck's bedroom a rather ghostly mood.  
  
The sky outside was dark, yet the night was quiet; somehow, it knew its end was near.

* * *

Samantha lifted her eyelids, feeling the warmth of the sun against her face. Sighing, she stirred, rose to a sitting position, then stretched her arms and yawned. She looked around, blinking. She had apparently fallen asleep in the same orchard she and Danny had landed in the night before...  
  
Danny!  
  
She didn't have to look far to find him; he lay next to her, on his side, still fast asleep, still a dragon. His eyes were closed, and his slow breathing was steady. She must have curled up next to him before she had gone to sleep, considering the fact that she had woke up laying next to his head. She looked at his scaly blue dragon face, which gave subtle confirmation that what had happened the day before was not a dream.  
  
She sighed again, and got up onto her feet. She approached his face and knelt down next to it, getting a closer look. Indeed, the broad matting of white scales that ran up the back of his head and cascaded down toward his nose was not scales at all, but instead was his hair. She gingerly reached out and touched it, gently running her fingers through it. It felt soft and springy, just like his hair used to feel under her hand, back when he was human.  
  
She slowly dropped her hand down to Danny's face, touching his cold, dry skin, running her fingers along his nose to the end of his snout. In a way, he resembled a horse... A giant, glowing, winged horse.  
  
She sat down, laying back against the side of his head, silently debating with herself on whether or not she should try to wake him up. He desparately needed the rest, but if they were going to try and head back to Amity Park sometime today, he was going to have to get up soon. Also, off in a clearing in the distance, she could see a farmhouse. If the residents happened to find the both of them here with Danny still asleep, that would only spell bad news for him.  
  
"Alright, Danny... Time to get up..."  
  
Normally, she would just shake his shoulders, but in his current state, that would be out of the question; she couldn't reach both of them at once. Instead, she walked around him until she reached the base of his neck, then put her hands against his right shoulder and shoved hard.  
  
"Come on, Danny, wake up."  
  
She heard him sigh, and he shook his head slightly.  
  
"Just five more minutes, mom..."  
  
He moved his arm forward, and Sam had to step back away from him so not to get squished as he rolled over onto his stomach. His right wing came down beside him, brushing against the limbs of a nearby tree, causing a number of small objects to rain down on the both of them. He became still again, having only shifted his position.  
  
Sam hesitated, then stepped forward to try again. She put her hands down on the same shoulder, this time shoving it back and forth.  
  
"Come ON, Danny..."  
  
"Zzz..."  
  
"It's time to get up. Wake up!"  
  
"Don't wanna..."  
  
Sam, feeling a little frustrated, stepped back before she felt like screaming at him. She nearly tripped on something and she looked down; there on the ground lay one of the things that had fallen out of the tree. An apple. This was an apple orchard, apparently. She knelt down to pick up the fruit, then stood back up, looking at Danny. She then threw the apple as hard as she could, aiming for his head.  
  
"Wake UP!!!"  
  
The small projectile struck him square in the ear-fin. He awoke with a start.  
  
"Ow!... Eh? What's going on... Something's wrong with my neck..."  
  
He moved his arms underneath him, attempting to get up on his hands and knees. Sam stood back against a nearby tree, giving him room to move. His neck still dragged the ground; then he leaned back on his knees, and figured out how to lift his head. He looked around, and saw Sam looking up at him.  
  
"Sam! ...How did you get so small? And what's with all these weird-looking bushes?"  
  
Sam's jaw dropped in surprise; he had forgotten what had happened. She slowly reached up with her hands, putting them on top of her own head in a silent gesture, motioning for Danny to do the same. He reached up and felt only the sides of his long neck. Leaning his neck downward, he found the top of his head. He felt the spikes on the back of his head, and his eyes widened. With both hands, he felt his face and nose, his mouth hanging open, his frightened green eyes staring blindly into space. Watching Danny, Sam was able to find her voice.  
  
"...Do you remember? Yesterday?"  
  
His hands slowly descended down his neck to his chest, and he looked down at them, his expression changing from fear to dejection.  
  
"So... I wasn't dreaming..."  
  
Sam ran up to him, reaching up and grabbing his hand, holding it in both hands. She looked up into Danny's eyes, meeting his sad gaze. She swallowed, then began speaking to him, accentuating her speech by shaking his hand.  
  
"Do you remember... what I told you...? I said... And you heard me, I know it... I'm going to stick with you... And I'm not gonna rest until I find a way to make you normal again. Me and Tuck... We're not going to let this go, Danny, we want to help you."  
  
Danny blinked, sighed. He looked down at the ground, then back at Sam's face. She wrapped her arms around his hand, a determined look on her face.  
  
"I'm not leaving you."  
  
"And I'm not saying you're not. I'm just worried for you."  
  
"You don't have to worry about me. You don't even have to worry about yourself. I'm here to take care of you. That's what friends are for."  
  
He looked at the ground again, and raised his eyebrows, realizing Sam's point.  
  
"I guess so."  
  
Sam let go of Danny's hand and stood back, smiling. Her expression changed suddenly as a thought crossed her mind. She raised a finger, turning her gaze to the ground.  
  
"I just had an idea... It might not be a very good one, but I want you to consider it anyway... What would happen if you switched out of ghost mode? Do you think that maybe the amulet would reappear?"  
  
Danny got up off his knees and rose to his full height. Leaning his neck down, he scratched the back of his head in thought. He then nodded, and dropped his arm to his side.  
  
"You might have something there. I'll give it a shot."  
  
It was like mentally letting go of the reins. A bright flash of white light caused Sam to have to shield her eyes as the ground began to shiver under her feet. Kneeling down, she spread her fingers to see a wide band of light--a ring--surrounding Danny's draconic form. With what seemed like a massive amount of effort, the ring split into two, then began repelling itself, with the top ring heading upward and the lower ring moving down toward the earth.  
  
As the rings began moving apart, Danny felt a strange sensation in his midsection. Where the rings had scanned him, there was no feeling; it was like he was being erased from the inside out. Soon after, he lost feeling in his arms and thighs, followed by his wings and tail. As the bottom ring disappeared into the ground, the top one was still scanning his neck. It was then that he realized what was happening to him, and with that, what might happen to Sam afterwards.  
  
"Sam! Ru--"  
  
He was unable to finish the command, as control of his vocal cords was suddenly torn from him. There was another burst of white light as the ring dissolved in the air above his head, and his vision was thrown into darkness. But then color and form began to return to his surroundings, and he found himself in a familiar place; he could see Sam from a normal perspective, yet he was nothing but a sense of sight, suspended a few feet off the ground. Sam was staring at something a few feet above where he thought he was, and he saw her raise her hand and point at it, a look of triumph on her face.  
  
"Look, Danny, the amulet! You're wearing it again!"  
  
A deafening roar exploded from somewhere just above Danny's head in response to Sam's remark, and she recoiled, all her nerve drained from her. As the dragon rose up to attack Sam, she heard a cry that seemed to come from within her own mind, although it also vibrated in her ears with unnatural clarity.  
  
"Run, Sam! RUN!!"  
  
She dashed behind a tree just as a blast of green-tinged flame scorched the grass where she had been standing just a second before. Peeking out from behind the tree, she watched as the dragon flapped its huge wings and took off into the sky. She stepped out into the clearing, watching it leave.  
  
Suddenly, another glowing ring surrounded the dragon in midair. Caught off guard by the light, it roared in defiance as the ring separated and began scanning over its thrashing body. Between the rings, the black and white jumpsuit reappeared, covering the dragon's skin. As this happened, the amulet seemed to fade from sight. The dragon suddenly became still as the rings faded out over its head and the tip of its tail. Doing nothing to keep itself airborne, the dragon dropped out of the sky like an enormous stone, disappearing into the treetops and then slamming into the ground, sending a tremor throughout the orchard and knocking Sam off her feet.  
  
She leapt to her feet almost immediately afterwards and ran towards the point of impact. Seeing as how the dragon didn't get far before Danny forced it back into his control, she didn't have to run for very long until she found him.  
  
Danny lay on his back, half-conscious, his wings spread underneath him. Broken twigs and leaves were scattered all over him, some of them caught in his hair. He curved his neck in order to rub the back of his head with his hand as Sam approached him.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"I think so... Don't think anything's broken... Head hurts, though."  
  
Slowly and carefully, he pushed himself into a sitting position, then leaned forward to get up on all fours. He then turned around to face Sam, who was staring up at him with a very unusual expression... Could it be empathy?  
  
Sam was glad to see that Danny hadn't been damaged much by the fall, and that he had prevented the dragon from harming anyone, but... They had made no progress. Once Danny switched out of his ghost form, it was like the dragon had taken complete control of him and his body. There was no way they would be able to remove the amulet if they couldn't get to it without getting injured or possibly killed. It was back to the drawing board for them.  
  
And now, Danny was back to being a dragon. Back to the scales and the wings and the claws. As she looked into his eyes, she could tell that he was absolutely sick of being a monster. She could feel how badly he wanted to be back to his normal self. She herself knew that if she ever woke up one day and found herself in the body of such a huge, terrifying creature, she would want to make it so that even she wouldn't have to see herself, even if it meant ending her own life. She would do that to save her friends the pain of never seeing her human again, by never letting them see her again at all. That must have been how Danny felt, back at the lake, when he had seen his own reflection in the water. That must have felt absolutely terrible. As Sam looked up into Danny's eyes, she couldn't help but shed a tear for him.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Danny..."  
  
He looked down into her violet eyes, surprised by the sudden change of heart. What was going on with her? So I fell. Okay, maybe I banged the back of my head on the ground, but that shouldn't throw a girl into tears. Jeez, I hope she isn't going through that thing that Paulina had happening with her every few weeks. She'll end up having mood swings left and right. I don't know if I'll be able to handle that. But then again, compared to having to handle being stuck in this body, why should I be worried about handling a girl who's going through her phase? I mean, what's she going to do, punch me? Big deal. I don't even think it would hurt if she bit me. Not saying that I don't mind being bitten. But for Pete's sake, I hope she doesn't go on crying like that. If I were a girl, I'd probably cry, too. I mean, honestly, that last idea of hers didn't go too well. I do hope she comes up with something better, though...  
  
"It's all right. We can try again later."  
  
He reached out and touched Sam's cheek gently with the side of his talon, wiping away the tear. Sam looked up, having suddenly spotted something sparkling in the corner of her eye, something near the base of Danny's neck.  
  
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out in the distance, and she was startled out of her concentration; the glittering object faded from her vision. She turned and spotted a group of people heading towards them from the farmhouse. She could hear one of them shouting at the others.  
  
"I'm telling you, Harry, it was too loud to be a sonic boom. It had to 've been a bomb going off!"  
  
Sam suddenly felt herself being bodily lifted from the ground. Danny carefully took her up into one of his hands, setting her on his shoulder, where she then instinctively swung her leg around his neck and got into position for takeoff. The owners of the orchard had just set eyes on him, when all of a sudden he seemed to disappear into thin air. A strong gust of wind swept the ground where he once stood, and he took off into the sky, Sam clinging to his neck.  
  
Soaring over the treetops, he turned until he was heading toward the skyscrapers of Amity Park, off in the distance. The mid-morning sun shone on the city, the metal structures gleaming like fire as they reflected the light. As he neared the city, he could see the familiar tower that stood atop his house.  
  
Whatever lay in store for him next, lay in waiting for him there... 


	8. Chapter 8

Sam hugged against the cold fabric, her eyes closed. The wind brushed against her body as she was carried rapidly across the sky. Every now and then she would feel her center of gravity shift slightly as he gently tilted to the side, changing direction. The bright light of the sun shone down on her, warming her skin, compensating for the low temperature of the surface she clung to.  
  
However hard she embraced her friend, she felt no comfort; in his presence, she could only feel pity. What he had attempted back in the orchard wasn't just her best idea, it was her only idea. She could think of no other method that would possibly work. Perhaps he was justified in believing that he would be stuck that way forever. And yet, there was no way she would be able to bring herself to tell him; he was probably looking to her as a beacon of spiritual strength, and to say something to let him down would be the end of everything. She didn't want him to lose hope, but eventually she was going to have to tell him the truth... She sincerely hoped that it wouldn't be soon.  
  
She felt her body begin to lean forward, and she could tell that he was on the descent. Brushing her face against the back of his collar to dry her tears, she turned her head to look down upon the cityscape below. They were over the rows of houses that lay within the Casper High district, and directly below them was the Fentonworks building with its tall metal structure. They passed by it in a matter of seconds, heading instead towards a different house on a different street.

* * *

Tucker sat down on the front steps of Sam's house, placing the Fentonfinder next to him on the concrete surface. He looked up at the sky, as if expecting to see them coming. Turning his attention to the moving dot on the device, he was surprised by a strong gust of wind from the street that nearly knocked him over. Grabbing his cap before it could get blown away, he looked around, and nearly jumped when he saw Sam appear on the sidewalk, seemingly right out of thin air.  
  
"Jeez! Couldn't you two at least give me a warning?"  
  
Sam held up a hand and opened her mouth to reply, but a second gust of wind caught her off guard, and she looked back toward the street even though she knew she would see nothing of Danny's departure. After a moment, she turned back toward Tuck.  
  
"He's coming back here after he checks on his parents. He wanted to go alone."  
  
She walked up and sat down beside him on the steps, watching the Fentonfinder's display. She remained silent for a while, watching the glowing dot as it moved across the screen. Tuck looked at her, noticing her gloomy expression.  
  
"Something on your mind?"  
  
Sam sighed.  
  
"Have you had any bright ideas lately?"  
  
Tuck looked down, shook his head.  
  
"Sorry, none. I was hoping you'd have some."  
  
She became silent again, turning her gaze to the sidewalk in front of her. After a while, she bowed her head and closed her eyes.  
  
"Then there's something I need to tell you."

* * *

Danny had to hover for a moment before he could find a place to land outside his house; the side of the house that had been damaged was now roped off with police tape and sawhorses, not to mention surrounded by a small crowd of people who had come to stare at it in deliberation. That side of the house had been manually patched up with boards and metal panels, quite possibly by his parents.  
  
The thought of that gave him some sense of relief, which then began to fade when he realized that the spot he had chosen to land in put him in a position where he was about to block traffic. He stood in the street in front of his house, invisible, with his wings folded and his long tail curled around him so that he wouldn't accidentally touch any buildings; however, as long as he had his feet on the ground, someone might run into him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Almost instantly he began to feel a tingling sensation all over his skin as he gradually lost tangibility. He couldn't look at himself to tell if he had gone completely intangible, so he performed a test on a nearby stop sign. He moved his tail to push against the metal post, and found that the sign did not give under the pressure; his tail went right through it as though there was nothing standing there to block it.  
  
He turned his attention to the crowd gathered around the side of the building. Not only would they not see him, neither would they be able to touch him; in a matter of speaking, he was nonexistent to them.  
  
Unfolding his wings and tail for balance, he carefully stepped up to the front door, moving slowly and treading lightly so as not to call attention to himself. Getting down on his knees, he put his head and part of his neck through the wall, looking into his parents' upstairs bedroom, alone. Craning his neck downward, he looked into the living room and kitchen, which were also empty. It was strange to see the inside of his house from his current perspective; it was like looking into a dollhouse.  
  
He finally leaned into the building and turned his neck straight down, like an ostrich burying its head in the ground, and found the interior of the basement laboratory. There at one of the many tables that lined the walls was his father. Danny blinked. He looked just fine. He was sitting in a metal chair, prodding with a screwdriver at some kind of device on the table in front of him, whistling as he did so. There were no signs of bodily injury, nor did it seem like he was in pain or suffering in any way, mentally or physically. Danny smiled, happy to see his father alive and well.  
  
There was movement in his peripheral vision; he turned his head to see his mom walk into the room. Like Jack, she seemed unharmed. She was carrying a cardboard box full of papers, which she then set down on a table across the room from Jack. Neither of them seemed concerned about the slightest thing, except from what they were busy doing. It looked like Bertrand had done nothing to them after all. After the Ghost Dragon escaped from the lab, Spectra and Bertrand must have left right along with him, leaving Jack alone and unconscious.  
  
Danny continued to watch them, confused. Why would Bertrand threaten to kill his dad, then leave him alone? Did he only do so in order to make him angry and trigger the amulet's spell? If so, then Bertrand's only reason for attacking his father was to use him as bait with which to unleash the Ghost Dragon. Somehow, his and Spectra's plans revolved only around getting him to transform into the Dragon.  
  
But then, why bring the Dragon out? All it ever did was attack and destroy things in a blind rage. Spectra and Bertrand were perfectly capable of causing enough damage to the neighborhood on their own, seeing as how Bertrand could fire ectoplasmic beams as well as transform into what seemed like any creature he wanted. There had to be a reason as to why they would want Danny to end up being the one to cause that damage, aside from the fact that he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop himself...  
  
As he watched his parents, it began to dawn on him. He wasn't able to stop himself from hurting anyone, either. He probably would have killed all of his classmates at Casper High if the dragon felt like it. And if the dragon had noticed Sam and Tuck standing there, he would have gotten them, too. In fact, if the dragon hadn't busted out of the house in the first place--  
  
"Jack... Did you turn the thermostat down? All of a sudden, this place feels like a freezer."  
  
Bertrand really had planned to follow through with his threat to murder Danny's entire family.  
  
Yet, neither he nor Spectra were planning on being the ones to take the blame for it.

* * *

"Tuck, look..."  
  
Sam picked up the Fentonfinder. On the screen, the dot was moving. What got Sam's attention was the fact that it wasn't moving toward them, but instead toward the commercial district of the city, where the taller buildings stood.  
  
Tuck leapt to his feet and grabbed his backpack.  
  
"Something must be wrong. We've got to follow him. Come on, I'll call a cab."  
  
"And I'll pay the fare."  
  
Sam got up, still carrying the device. Tuck ran inside Sam's house to find the phone. As he disappeared through the front door, Sam turned to look toward the skyscrapers in the distance.


	9. Chapter 9

"Driver, stop the car! We're getting off here."  
  
Pulling the cab to a stop by the side of the street, the driver looked out the window at the partially-constructed building standing at the street corner. He looked to the buildings at either side, seeing nothing that would serve as a reasonable point of interest. Shrugging his shoulders, he hit the switch on the meter.  
  
"That'll be twenty bucks and thirty-five cents."  
  
Samantha handed over a fifty-dollar bill.  
  
"Keep the change."  
  
She immediately opened the door and rushed out of the cab, Tucker following right behind, before the driver could say anything else. Slamming the door behind him, Tuck followed Sam to the edge of the tall wooden-slat fence that enclosed the construction area as the cab pulled away and headed off down the street, leaving them behind.  
  
Sam stopped at the fence, taking a look around. This was one of the busiest areas of the city; the sidewalks were nearly crowded with people, and the traffic lanes were never empty. As she was taking all this into account, Tuck prodded her shoulder.  
  
"The Fentonfinder says he's right in the middle of this area. He has to be inside that structure..."  
  
He waved his hand toward the building under development, which was apparently going to become a parking garage. Sam looked up at the spires of metal framework that stood atop the half-built walls. She nodded.  
  
"He's definitely in there. But how are we going to get in there without anyone noticing?"  
  
Tuck looked around. Any passersby would notice them for sure if they attempted to climb over the fence. He looked back at the fence, and walked up to it, wondering. Sam watched him as he pushed his hands against each board, evidently checking for something. As he put his hand against a slat close to the edge of the fence that stood next to an adjoining building, he felt it give and swing inward.  
  
"Sam, over here."  
  
He stood back and looked around, then motioned for Sam to go through the opening. She quickly dove in, being careful not to do anything that would call attention to herself. The slat closed behind her. She stood back, waiting, then saw Tuck as he pushed the slat in and darted through the opening. Together, without looking back, they ran inside the construction area.

* * *

"Honey, did you see that?"  
  
A man stood at the window of his apartment, looking down at the street. Down by the construction area, two teenagers had just crossed into the restricted zone seemingly through a hole in the fence. As he watched them run into the building, his wife walked up next to him to gaze out the window.  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Two kids. They just ran through that fence. I don't think anyone else noticed them."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"They were there just a second ago..."  
  
Suddenly, something else caught his eye; up above the traffic intersection, a wisp of black smoke flew through the air, seemingly of its own accord. He watched it as it crossed over the fence and disappeared through one of the walls of the building, fading from sight.  
  
"Look, I think I just saw something else. It looked like some kind of... ghost."  
  
"Honey, whatever it is you've been doing, you've been doing it for too long."

* * *

Sam and Tuck kept running until they reached the construction's center; a large pit that was dug for the foundation of the building's central pillar. Tuck looked down at the Fentonfinder's glowing screen.  
  
"According to this... we should be right on top of him."  
  
Sam looked around, a look of worry on her face. She then cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out in desperation into the silence.  
  
"Danneeeeeeee!! Where are you??"  
  
Tuck grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close to him, silencing her.  
  
"Wait... I heard something. I think it was breathing."  
  
Sam fell quiet, listening. After a short while, she could hear it too; deep, slow, somewhat ragged breathing, coming from somewhere close by. Breaking away from Tuck, she ran to the edge of the pit and looked down.  
  
At the bottom lay nothing but a wheelbarrow and a large rock. As her eyes searched the area, she caught the rock shifting position suddenly, like something large had brushed against it.  
  
Sam knelt down, preparing to descend into the pit. Tuck put down his backpack, letting it slide down to the bottom along the steep slope, then sat down at the edge and put his feet out before him to catch himself when he landed. Sam carefully made her way down, touched ground and then got back up on her feet. She looked out into the seemingly empty space as though she could see what was there.  
  
"Danny..."  
  
The rock, which lay several feet to her left, shifted again. She heard a sigh.  
  
"Leave me alone..."  
  
The voice came from the far end of the pit, to her right. Tuck walked up beside her, carrying the backpack in his hands, looking off in the same direction. Slowly, Sam approached the source of the sound, stepping lightly and carefully for fear that she might accidentally tread on Danny.  
  
"You know I won't. I promised I wouldn't."  
  
"Just let them bury me."  
  
"Don't say that..."  
  
Sam stopped, feeling something touching her leg. She reached down to feel it, but it was snatched out from under her hands. She stood back up, looking toward the voice, and continued walking in its direction.  
  
"Danny, please listen to me..."  
  
"There's nothing any of us can do, and you know it."  
  
"Danny..."  
  
"I saw it in your eyes, and I'm seeing it right now."  
  
Sam stopped. She stood upright, glaring in the direction of the voice.  
  
"Do you really think we're going to just leave you here?"  
  
She heard something scraping the ground, moving toward the far end of the pit.  
  
"Why not? You've never been the kind of person who would lie to yourself."  
  
"Danny, shut up and just LISTEN to me!"  
  
The voice had come from somewhere above, and she turned her attention to that area. She immediately felt sorry for yelling at Danny, but she could think of no other way to get her point across. Her emotions were starting to take charge, and now her voice was beginning to shake.  
  
"OK, I'll admit it. All this time... I've been trying to stand up for you... And I've really had nothing to stand on. And I'm sorry if it sounds like I've been lying to you just to make you feel better. I'm sorry if it sounds like I've been giving you false hopes."  
  
There was no response. In the silence, she could feel something tugging at her conscience. Becoming overwhelmed, she gave in to it.  
  
"No, that's not what it sounds like, that's what it is. That's what it really is."  
  
Tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
"...And I'm sorry, Danny, I really am."  
  
After a long while, she heard another sigh. It was a sound of indifference, a "whatever". Sam closed her eyes, feeling the warm tears stream down her face. Her breathing became shuddered.  
  
She then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look and saw Tuck standing next to her, looking up at the voice in annoyance.  
  
"Danny, now look..."  
  
A deafening roar shook the walls, interrupting Tuck and silencing them both.  
  
"No, YOU look!!!"  
  
They shielded their eyes as a blaze of color and light filled the room. Danny materialized before them, his green eyes and white aura glowing angrily. He stood on all fours with his wings spread in a threatening manner. His long neck loomed over Sam and Tuck, looking down on them, his expression one of absolute fury.  
  
"This is what you're going to be seeing from now on! Tell me, WHAT do you see?"  
  
They stared up at him, frozen in shock. Their frightened reactions only angered Danny further. Teeth clenched, he breathed out through his nostrils, streams of purple smoke erupting from them. Sam and Tuck gave no response. Danny shut his eyes tightly.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU SEE??"  
  
Sam closed her eyes and screamed back a reply.  
  
"I see my best friend, Danny Fenton!!"  
  
There was a noticable, almost immediate change in Danny's expression. He sat down, his aura dimming, as though the weight of Sam's words had forced him into doing so. His head fell, and he stared at the ground, his wings falling to his sides.  
  
Sam stepped up to him, reaching up to take Danny's face into her hands. He offered no resistance as she grabbed his ear-fins and pulled his head around to face her. She looked straight into his eyes, which had lost their imposing glow and had now taken on an expression of confused remorse.  
  
"Do you really think I care what you look like? It doesn't matter to me what you look like. I wouldn't even care if you suddenly began sprouting hair and you turned into the Abominable Snowman. Because I KNOW who you are. Who you are will never change. It didn't change over the past couple of days, nor did it change back then from what happened in your parents' lab, when you first became Danny Phantom... In my eyes you are and will always be Danny. Always."  
  
Her hands slipped from the flaps of skin, and she wrapped her arms around Danny's face, pulling his head into her embrace, pressing her face against his. She began to shiver.  
  
"Nothing is going to change that, Danny... Nothing..."  
  
Danny closed his eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"No, don't be... It's not your fault you were angry... Everybody gets angry sometimes."  
  
Sam then felt something warm touching her arms, and she looked up; Danny was crying. Then something else grabbed her attention, something hanging across Danny's chest that seemed to reflect the light from his aura. It gave off a strange golden light, then suddenly disappeared from Sam's vision as a glowing blue mist engulfed her. Sam let go of Danny, standing back as he raised his head; his ghost sense had gone off again, the blue vapor streaming from his mouth. Somewhere nearby, someone was laughing.  
  
Sam heard the voice behind her, and Danny had turned his head to look. He met the gaze of a red-haired woman dressed in a bright red suit, standing at the edge of the pit, looking down at them. Sam turned to face her, recognizing her almost immediately.  
  
"Spectra..."  
  
Penelope Spectra crossed her arms, a look of evil smugness on her pale-skinned face. Apparently she had not found anyone miserable enough to feed off of for a long while; her hair did not have its usual fiery tinge, and a number of wrinkles had crossed her bony cheeks. Nonetheless, she stood triumphant, as though everything was going her way.  
  
"Well, now, look at you, Danny. A scared little teenager trapped in the body of a vicious monster. Have you figured out yet how you're going to explain this to your parents back home?"  
  
Danny rose up on his hind legs, spreading his wings. He looked away from Spectra, turning his attention to his friends. Tuck was cowering behind Danny, looking out at Spectra from what he considered to be a safe vantage point. Sam, however, was standing next to his leg, looking up at him.  
  
"Don't listen to her, Danny."  
  
Danny looked back at Tuck, stepping forward so that both Tuck and Sam were behind him.  
  
"You two need to get out of here."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I know, but I don't want you getting hurt. Now leave!"  
  
Sam nodded, understanding him clearly. Grabbing Tuck by the arm, she ran to the other end of the pit, dragging him alongside her. Carefully, the two climbed up the somewhat unstable incline, reaching the top without incident. Danny turned his attention back to Spectra, who apparently didn't seem to care what the others were doing.  
  
"Look, Spectra, your plan isn't going to work for you anymore. I've figured it out... You and your little green friend had planned to trick me into turning into the Ghost Dragon by slipping the Amulet on me while I wasn't paying attention. Then you were just going to leave me to go on a rampage and destroy everything, unable to control myself. In the process, you two were hoping that I would end up murdering my friends and family..."  
  
Spectra grinned. Danny's brows furrowed.  
  
"Well, your plan's backfired. I can control what the dragon does now, and the only ones I plan on harming are you and Bertrand! I'm not your tool anymore, Spectra!"  
  
She laughed again, catching Danny off guard. He blinked.  
  
"Oh come on now, Danny, you can't expect us to take the blame for your transformation. You had as much a part in it as we did. All we had to do was get the Amulet on you; you allowed yourself to get angry all on your own."  
  
"You shut up..."  
  
"Anger is a beast, Danny. A beast which once you lose control of, you become. That is where the Amulet derives its power. I'll admit that you did manage to foil our original plan, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any room left for improvisation. You'll be back under my control before you know it."  
  
A flash of green caught Sam's eye, and she looked up.  
  
"Danny, look out!!"  
  
Coming down like a comet from the open sky above where Danny stood was Bertrand, having taken the form of a serpentine dragon, almost identical to Danny. Danny didn't look up in time; Bertrand's claws dove into the back of his neck, and he roared in pain. Landing behind Danny, Bertrand pulled his arms up and back, lifting Danny bodily from the ground, then flinging him forward, sending him crashing through the nearest wall.  
  
Out in the street, traffic came to a screeching halt as the side of the half-built wall on the street corner exploded outward, raining dust and debris on cars and people nearby. Immediately afterwards, something gigantic sailed through the air, slamming into the asphalt in the middle of the intersection, scattering the cloud of dust with its body. A few bystanders were frozen in a state of terrified curiosity; only after they saw the creature raise its head to look back at the hole in the building did they decide to flee, screaming, having noticed the long, sharp teeth.  
  
Danny scrambled to get to his feet, turning to face Bertrand, who perched with his forearms at the edge of the hole, his red eyes glowing furiously. Laughing darkly at Danny's awkwardness, he pulled himself through the opening, getting down on all fours on the sidewalk. Danny spotted movement a short distance away from where Bertrand was getting up onto his hind legs; Sam and Tuck stood at the edge of the flattened barrier, their hands cupped around their mouths, yelling at him. What they had to say, he couldn't hear; all around him, car horns were blaring in his direction. Looking down, he noticed that he was blocking traffic. He flapped his wings and leapt into the air, hovering a safe distance above the intersection, exclaiming an apology to the people below. Too late did he realize that turning his attention away from Bertrand was a bad idea.  
  
The green dragon sprang into the air and slammed full-body into him, sending him flying backwards. Danny tried to spread his wings to slow down, but that only caused him to flip upside down in the air just before his body struck the side of another building further down the street. The momentum had him clinging to the side of the damaged apartment complex for a few seconds, after which he slid off and fell, slamming into the pavement below. Something gave underneath him, and a loud, piercing alarm went off. He leapt up onto all fours. Looking down, he noticed that he had accidentally crushed the roof of a car under his chest. Panicking, he picked it up and looked in through what was left of the shattered windows; it was empty.  
  
A loud roar brought Danny's attention back to his attacker, who then pounced on him from behind, causing him to drop the car. Bertrand shoved him down on his stomach against the pavement, grabbing his neck and pulling it back, as though attempting to break it. Putting one hind foot on Danny's back at the base of his neck, he laughed as Danny flailed his arms about trying to get at him.  
  
"What do we have here? Looks like a dragon that doesn't know how to be a dragon! Your size and strength may have given you the advantage last time, ghost kid, but this time, they're not going to help you much..."  
  
Danny drove his claws into the asphalt for anchorage, then swung his neck forward as hard as he could, flinging Bertrand off of him. The ghost monster quickly rebounded against another building, causing it to crumble, then leapt at Danny with his claws and fangs bared. Danny threw himself to the side, rolling over to dodge the attack, then leapt toward the buildings on the other side of the street, going intangible and phasing right through the walls, disappearing from Bertrand's sight in a matter of seconds.  
  
Bertrand landed on all fours, then rose up on his hind legs, glaring at the spot where Danny had escaped.  
  
"Your ghost powers aren't going to help you, either, you know!"  
  
He opened his mouth, a bright glow emanating from the back of his throat. A bright beam of ectoplasmic energy then erupted from his mouth, striking the building. Danny, who lay crouched behind the building, found himself suddenly half-buried under the rubble as the structure collapsed right on top of him. He quickly dove into the ground, phasing through the pavement to escape Bertrand's next attack.  
  
Bertrand was causing way too much damage for his liking. Even though the area was rapidly being evacuated, sooner or later, someone was bound to get hurt. He had to figure out some way of getting Bertrand away from the city before anything else ended up getting destroyed from their battle.  
  
Danny shot up out of the ground, regaining tangibility, and looked around him. There was no sign of Bertrand. Suddenly, something struck him hard from behind; Bertrand had phased through the skyscraper behind him for a sneak attack.  
  
"Foolish ghost kid! Don't you know that when you're two stories tall, you lack the element of surprise?"  
  
Bertrand swatted Danny hard with his tail, slamming him against yet another building. Seeing the next attack coming, Danny leapt into the air to dodge the second energy beam. Flapping his wings, he took off into the sky, hoping that Bertrand would follow him. He circled around in the air, looking down to see if Bertrand had taken the bait. His question was answered when a third beam struck him in the chest, paralyzing him. Having lost all his strength in the space of a few seconds, he dropped out of the sky, his body hitting the ground with enough force to create a noticable tremor.  
  
Lights flashed in his vision as he began to come around. He felt Bertrand upon him, coiling himself around his body like a boa constrictor does its prey. He lay with his back to the pavement, apparently in the middle of the street. Bertrand was pinning him down, tightening his coils, slowly squeezing the breath out of Danny. Danny tried to fight back, attempting to wriggle himself loose, but he didn't even have the strength to lift his head off the ground. He opened his eyes halfway, looking up at Bertrand, who grinned back down at him.  
  
"I told Spectra this would be a piece of cake. I knew it wasn't going to take much to bring you down. You thought you'd overpower me, but you can't! You're afraid to. You're afraid someone else is going to get hurt, aren't you? That, my little loser friend, is your weakness..."  
  
Bertrand pulled his coils tighter, feeling Danny's bones giving under the pressure. Danny cried out in pain, although no sound escaped his lips due to his inability to breathe.  
  
"You can't do anything for fear of hurting somebody. You're so big, you're afraid you'd knock something over, or step on somebody. You can't fight back when you care too much for what might happen to somebody you don't even know. So why do you even bother trying to fight me?"  
  
He twisted himself to the side, snapping a rib, causing Danny to cry out again in silence.  
  
"You can't fight me... You can't do anything... But you're still going to pay... For what you did to me... What you did to Spectra... You're going to pay for it with your life."  
  
Danny tried to open his eyes, but all he could see was spots. He thought he saw a glowing light as Bertrand prepared to fire one final beam at his head, but he couldn't keep it in focus...


	10. Chapter 10

"You leave him alone!!"  
  
Suddenly, something struck Bertrand in the side of his head, and the beam missed its target, striking the asphalt to the left of Danny's neck. The object fell to the ground, clattering on the pavement. Bertrand loosed his grip, standing up over Danny, turning his attention to where the object had come from. Danny fell back on the ground, gasping for breath, putting a hand to his side.  
  
"Fire two!"  
  
Bertrand was smacked in the face by yet another object. He drew backwards, hissing. Danny turned his head to look; somehow or another, Bertrand was getting attacked by flying trashcans.  
  
Down in the alley, which was in almost direct alignment with where Bertrand stood, Tuck had pulled back a number of clotheslines in a single bundle, having rigged the entire apparatus as a slingshot. Together with Sam, he had his arms around another trashcan, pulling the clotheslines back with it as far as they would allow.  
  
"Fire three!"  
  
Bertrand sidestepped the third assault, then raised his head and opened his mouth, preparing to retaliate.  
  
"Meddling humans...!"  
  
Recognizing the sound of Tuck's voice calling the shots, Danny found it within him to get back up onto his feet. He then turned and leapt at Bertrand, slamming into him just as the beam left his mouth. As he hit the ground with Bertrand underneath him, he heard the impact of the energy blast in the alleyway, followed by the sound of his friends' screams, which were then muffled by the sound of the debris falling on top of them, drowning them out.  
  
Danny sprang to his feet, towering over the fallen Bertrand.  
  
"You... you monster!"  
  
"No, really, what did you expect?"  
  
Bertrand swung his body around, knocking Danny's legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the ground. Leaping to pounce on him again, he was suddenly caught off guard when Danny's fist shot out, socking him right in the jaw. Flinching from attacking again, Bertrand received another punch to his stomach. He fell to the ground, Danny leaping on top of him and grabbing him around the neck with one hand, choking him. Bertrand tried to wrap himself around Danny again, but failed to succeed as Danny was able to catch and hold each of Bertrand's limbs in his hands and feet.  
  
Danny then flapped his wings and took to the sky, carrying the trapped Bertrand in his talons, holding his limbs together between his hands and legs. Bertrand struggled to break loose from the grip Danny had on him, but it was almost as if Danny's body had turned into solid steel; he could hardly move at all within his bonds. Together they rose higher into the sky, clearing the low-level clouds, then coming into a level. Bertrand looked down at the distant ground, and saw the Danny was taking him over the city park. It was when Danny suddenly made a sharp tilt toward the ground that Bertrand realized what his next plan of attack was.  
  
"You... You don't have the guts... You'll end up killing yourself too...!"  
  
The air rushed past them with greater intensity as Danny picked up speed, heading straight down at the ground. He made no other response to Bertrand's words. Bertrand turned his head the best he could to look at Danny's face; it was clear by his expression that he meant to do was he was planning on doing. Bertrand looked back down at the ground as it flew up to meet them, and a scream barely escaped his mouth.  
  
Danny and Bertrand slammed into the earth at full force, Danny shoving Bertrand in front of him at the last moment to take the brunt of the impact. Unable to retain his dragon form, Bertrand's ectostructure collapsed, scattering green blobs of ectoplasm everywhere. The ground shook from the hit, sending a shockwave through the city. Nearby, a radio tower toppled over from the quake. After a short while, the shaking died down, and everything fell quiet.  
  
Danny lay where he landed, feeling a sharp pain in his neck where Bertrand's body didn't cushion his fall. He rolled over onto his back, sparks dancing before his eyes from the nerves being touched off all over his body whenever he moved. He didn't count on the effect that coming to a stop at high speed would have on his elongated spine. Remembering his friends back in the alley, he got up onto his feet, withstanding the pain, taking a moment to shake himself to remove the bits of Bertrand that had clung to him. He checked to see if his wings still functioned, then leapt into the air, taking flight.  
  
From above, the central city area looked like a war zone. As he looked over the fallen buildings, he hoped everyone had gotten out of the area all right. After a while, he was finally able to find the two buildings between which he last heard his friends. He landed in the street in front of the area, realizing that only part of the alley had collapsed from Bertrand's attack; the buildings still stood on either side, and the beam had only grazed the roofs, sending the bricks and other masonry falling from the top part of both buildings.  
  
He looked down into the alley, seeing a large mound of debris. He saw no sign of either Sam nor Tuck.  
  
"Guys...?"  
  
He heard a cough. Part of the pile of rubble shifted, and he could see an arm waving about, scattering dust. Danny stepped forward, but realized that he was somewhat barred from entering the alley by the remains of a fire escape, which hung from the side of the building on his right. There was more movement on the ground below, and he saw Tuck sit up, covered in dust. His leg lay bent in an unusual manner.  
  
"Tuck! Are you alright? Where's Sam?"  
  
Tuck looked up at him, and coughed again. He tried to move again, but stopped, crying out. He clenched his teeth, his eyes screwed shut from the pain. His leg was broken.  
  
"Don't move... Stay right there. I'm coming to get you."  
  
Tuck raised an arm to try and clear the dust from the air around him, still coughing from the dust trapped in his lungs. He looked up at Danny, his muscles still tight from the spasms of pain blasting his nerves from his injured leg. He noticed the damaged fire escape.  
  
"No, Danny... Don't try it... cough... You'll get stuck..."  
  
"No, I won't... Don't worry..."  
  
Danny looked at the twisted metal, noticing how it was still attached to the wall. If he tried to tear it away, he could end up causing the building to collapse. He dared not risk that happening. That only left one option: try to crawl underneath it without causing any more damage to both buildings' infrastructures.  
  
Carefully, he lay down on his stomach, folding his wings to his sides, lining himself up with the space beneath the fire escape. When he felt he had himself perfectly straight, he began crawling forward on all fours toward the alley, belly to the ground, moving in a manner similar to that of a snake.  
  
His head went in first, naturally. He felt his hair brush against the metal, followed by the spikes on the back of his head, which scraped against it, almost catching on it. He stopped, hearing a loud creak. Tuck was watching him from where he lay, his back to the pile of bricks. He wasn't coughing as much now.  
  
"Danny, I'm telling you... You're going to get stuck. You're too big."  
  
Danny was unable to reply, seeing as how his lower jaw lay flat against the ground, making him unable to open his mouth. He simply growled in frustration and shoved forward with his neck, freeing his horns from the hanging structure. It swung back and forth slightly from the contact, but otherwise did nothing else. Danny pulled his arms back against his sides, lifting his head to look at Tuck.  
  
"Have a little faith in me, would ya?"  
  
Now all he had left to push himself along were his hind legs. Moving his head close to the side of one of the buildings, he pushed as hard as he could with his feet against the ground behind him, bringing his upper body underneath the fire escape. With his wings down against his back, he was able to slide underneath the structure without anything catching. Soon, he was able to bring his arms around in front of him; even though he was only halfway into the alley, that was as far as he needed to go.  
  
Arching his back downward, he reached out with one hand to slowly clear away the bricks that lay on the other side of the pile from Tuck.  
  
"Did you see where Sam landed?"  
  
"Not exactly, but it was somewhere close to where you're digging..."  
  
As Danny brushed away another layer of brick with his claws, he found a black boot, still worn by a leg clothed in a torn purple legging. He felt a lump in his throat as he carefully dug around Sam's body, freeing it from the debris. She lay still, her eyes closed, her body half-covered in dust like Tuck was. Danny could see a thin line of red running down the side of her face. Taking great caution in his movements, he prodded Sam with one claw; she didn't respond.  
  
Feeling his blood turn to ice, Danny lowered his hand slowly to the the ground. But then, Tuck spoke up, having leaned over to get a good look at Sam.  
  
"It's okay, she's still breathing! You might not be able to see it, but she's breathing. She's just unconscious."  
  
Danny sighed deeply. She was going to be fine... for the most part.  
  
"Tuck, hold still. I'm coming to get you. I'm going to try and get you two to a hospital..."  
  
Sliding his hands underneath himself, Danny shoved down against the ground, pulling himself further through the space under the fire escape. It was up until he had dragged his lower body underneath the metal when he noticed that he wasn't able to move forward any further; the structure had caught on the ridge of bones on his back that connected his spine to the base of his tail. He tried to move, but the structure only creaked louder, threatening to collapse.  
  
He gave up on trying, and finally lay down on his stomach, moving his arms back around in front of him. Tuck lay back against the bricks, watching him.  
  
"I told you..."  
  
"Shut it, Tuck, I'm fine. I'm just fine. But as for you..."  
  
Danny reached behind Tuck, bringing his claws down underneath his body. Tuck whimpered, feeling pain in his leg when it was moved. Danny slowed his movements, trying to keep from hurting Tuck.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
Having managed to lift Tuck bodily from the debris without causing him too much pain, he tilted his hand back and pulled it toward him, arching his back the best he could so that he could hold Tuck in his arms, in the same manner a youngster would hold a favorite doll. Able to hold him with one arm, he reached out with the other, lifting Sam's body and pulling her to him, cradling her alongside Tuck.  
  
Making sure that he had a good hold on both of them, he then closed his eyes and concentrated. Tuck began to feel prickles all over his skin, realizing what Danny's plan was; Danny was never in danger of getting stuck under the fire escape at all. Danny then rose up onto his feet, stepping backwards, phasing right through the twisted metal and rubble. He stopped in the middle of the street, standing upright. He looked down at Tuck.  
  
"Hold on tight."  
  
Tuck wrapped one arm around Danny's hand, and grabbed hold of the bottom edge of Danny's collar with the other. Danny slowly crouched down, raised his wings, then sprang up into the air as hard as he could. Tuck watched as the ground fell away beneath them, his knuckles turning the same color as the cloth he grasped. Danny continued to gain altitude, leveling off once he was a safe distance away from the buildings below.  
  
Tuck's gaze remained toward the ground, watching as the cityscape swept past them. But then something grabbed his attention. He looked down at Danny's long shadow as it passed over the buildings and empty streets, realizing that something was missing from the picture. He then leaned back against Danny's shoulder, looking back at the pair of wings that were folded down against Danny's back.  
  
"Don't you need your wings to fly?"  
  
"What...?"  
  
Looking back down at the ground, Tuck suddenly found himself concerned with something else entirely. A streak of dark fire leapt up from below, seemingly out of nowhere, heading straight toward Danny like a ballistic missile.  
  
"Danny, look--"  
  
Before Tuck could finish, the flames struck Danny in the stomach, then all of a sudden disappeared. Danny looked down, reacting only to Tuck's shout, as though he didn't feel the attack at all. Suddenly, his back arched sharply in a spasmodic fashion, as though Danny's body had been bent by a pair of invisible hands. He cried out, part in surprise and the other part in pain.  
  
Unable to keep himself aloft, he flipped over in the air and began to fall. Tuck managed to let out a scream before Danny crashed into the earth, and he was flung from Danny's arms, coming to rest against a hard, unforgiving surface upon which he was knocked unconscious.  
  
Danny lay suffering for a moment before wearily rising to his hands and knees, opening his eyes. He had torn through a parking lot, his body having dislodged several large sections of pavement as it came to a stop. Sam and Tuck didn't land too far away; Sam lay face down on the flat part of one of the torn-up pieces of asphalt, whereas Tuck lay on his side with his back against a nearby concrete wall. Neither one moved.  
  
Worried, Danny got up onto his feet. Suddenly, another spasm caught him off guard, and his legs buckled underneath him, causing him to fall hard on his side. He rolled over onto his stomach and tried to get up again, but something was causing his arms to lock up, preventing him from moving them. A feeling of helplessness engulfed him, suffocating him. He knew this feeling from before; it was the same feeling he had when the locker ghost Sidney Poindexter leapt into his body to attempt to drive him out of it.  
  
"Give me your body..."  
  
Danny's hands, as though under someone else's control, suddenly reached up and wrapped around his neck, squeezing his throat. Danny gasped for air, bringing his feet up under his arms to try and pry them away. After much effort he was able to break their hold on him. He lay back against the ground, his breathing labored.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Don't try to fight me, Danny..."  
  
Danny screamed as he felt an intense burning sensation spread throughout his body. He thrashed about on the pavement, feeling each of his nerves seemingly burst into flames. He put his hands to his head, finally coming to rest on his side, curling into a fetal position.  
  
"You cannot win, ghost boy... I will regain control of you..."  
  
"No...!"  
  
But he could feel it deep inside of him; something was pulling him away, tearing his senses away from him, causing him to become detached from himself. The pain began to ebb away as he lost feeling in every part of his body. His vision dimmed.  
  
Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by the dark flames. Evil laughter pervaded his hearing. He hadn't been forced out of his body; he had been trapped inside it, like a hostage, while Spectra had taken it over from the outside. He could barely feel it when his side scraped against the ground, his body rising up onto all fours, the neck bending and the head turning to look out over its surroundings.  
  
"Spectra... Get out of me..."  
  
"Oh, I'm not through with you, not just yet... You're going to do what I want you to do before I let you go."  
  
He felt his right arm lift off the ground, move forward, then come down, the left arm following suit. The head tilted down, and Danny knew what Spectra was looking at.  
  
"First, your girlfriend."  
  
"NO!!"  
  
Danny lashed out with whatever strength he had left, trying to prevent Spectra from taking another step in whatever way he possibly could. He felt her come to a sudden stop, as though her arms had suddenly frozen up. He heard her roaring in frustration, but other than that she had nothing else to say to him.  
  
He felt his center of balance shift as his body rose up on its hind legs. She took a step forward with his left leg.  
  
Danny tried looking behind him, but all he could see was a wall of black fire. He directed his energy straight backward, dispersing the flames, blasting a hole through his outer consciousness. He was able to see the jagged asphalt that lay around where he had landed before. His tail was dragging against the ground. Focusing his energy down his spinal chord, he forced the tail to wrap around one of the sections of torn pavement. With his mind, he gave a hard tug, pulling the dirt and rock sideways and sending it crashing down on top of the tail, pinning it down.  
  
He felt Spectra wheel around to look behind her, roaring, absolutely infuriated at finding herself unable to approach her target any further.  
  
"Fine, if that's how you want it...!"  
  
She swung her neck back around, and Danny felt something burning in his neck. He looked down at the ground, finding Sam laying there before him. She was slowly starting to come around; he saw her arm shifting position, sliding up underneath her, her eyes fluttering open.  
  
Colors and lights flowed about confusedly in Sam's vision. The first thing she felt was a throbbing pain in the back of her head. She could tell that she was laying back against the ground, but she wasn't exactly sure what she was laying on. She turned her head, feeling a pang in her neck as she did so. As her surroundings slowly began to come into focus around her, she thought she saw a familiar shape.  
  
"...Danny...?"  
  
The burning feeling in Danny's neck became more intense. Suddenly aware of what Spectra was about to do, he directed his fading energy up his neck, through his head, into his jaws.  
  
"I know I'm gonna feel this later, but right now... This is gonna hurt you way more than it's gonna hurt me!"  
  
Pulling his last shreds of strength together, he clamped his mouth shut.  
  
The dragon-fire caught in Spectra's throat, and she screamed out in pain, the sound muffled through her closed teeth. Try as she might, she could not open her mouth; it was like it had been welded shut. Tearing at her face with her claws, she threw herself onto her side, thrashing about in agony as she felt her insides getting scorched. Finally, Danny let go, and the jaws flew open, the stream of emerald fire blasting out from her mouth, missing its intended target completely.  
  
Spectra fell backwards, spent. As she slammed into the ground, Danny reached out with his mind, finding her dark essence starting to falter. Remembering how he was able to repel her the last time he faced her in battle, he called forth the spiritual energy and performed the same maneuver, sending a wave of white light crashing in every direction. The light struck Spectra's essence, catching her off guard, sending her flying backwards, out of her physical shell, into the open. Now nothing more than her normal shadowy self, she slammed against a nearby wall, then fell to the ground.  
  
Danny then felt his senses returning to him; he was nearly overwhelmed by the intense pain in his neck and tail. He lay on his back on the ground, his wings underneath him. He rolled over and got up onto his hands and knees, teeth clenched from the pain.  
  
Spectra smouldered where she lay, slowly getting her strength back as her fury welled up inside her. She raised up off the ground, turning to face Danny, her flames growing around her.  
  
"You...!"  
  
Danny saw her fly up into the air, coming straight down at him, her glowing hands out in front, her claws unsheathed.  
  
"YOU WILL PAY!!!"  
  
Danny said nothing. He raised his right hand, leaning over on his left, watching as she came at him. The aura around his right hand changed from white to green, glowing brighter than the rest of him. He then raised his hand over his head, baring his claws, then brought it down with tremendous force, swatting Spectra like a flaming fly, sparks shooting from his hand as he did so.  
  
Spectra smacked against the ground, screaming in fury, her tone then changing to that of helpless defeat as Danny brought his hand down on her again, squishing her like a bug. Her flames were immediately extinguished under Danny's forceful attack, and her screams faded into silence. He waited a moment before lifting his hand, seeing nothing left of Spectra except a black scorch mark on the ground where she lay before.  
  
His aura returned to its normal white glow. Slowly, he got up on all fours, and made his way back to where Sam lay on the rugged pavement, recovering. He stood over her, leaning his neck forward to get a better look at her. She turned her head again, having noticed herself suddenly in the shade. She did not open her eyes.  
  
"...Danny... Is that you...?"  
  
"It's me... I'm right here. You're safe now."  
  
"What... what happened..."  
  
"Don't try to talk, you need to rest... You're in really bad shape... I'm taking you to the hospital."  
  
Sam sighed, and lay silent, her brows furrowed from the pain of her headache. Danny got up on his hind legs, bending over, sliding his fingers under Sam and carefully lifting her back up into his arms. Getting her secure in his embrace, he stepped over to Tuck, who was also starting to regain consciousness. Remembering his broken leg, Danny took greater care into getting his hand underneath Tuck's body, picking him up gently and allowing him to lay against Sam as he crossed his arms under the pair. Standing back up, he took one good look around, making sure nothing else was going to leap out and catch him unawares. He finally raised his aching wings, flapping them and taking to the sky, resuming his search for the city hospital.

* * *

Bertrand rose up from the gathering puddles of loose ectoplasm, regaining his regular amorphic form. He looked around with his glowing red eyes, noticing the wide, deep crater that surrounded him. Noting the damage, he grinned, sharp teeth showing.  
  
"Well, well. If he keeps this up, there won't be a city left for him to protect, now will there?"  
  
Checking to make sure he was all one piece again, he sprouted a pair of batlike wings, using them to fly to the rim of the crater. Landing on the grass, he looked up to find Spectra hovering in front of him, her black flames blazing with such intensity that she resembled a fireball with piercing red eyes. Bertrand knew deep within himself what was causing her to be so angry, and yet he was almost afraid to admit it to her.  
  
"You... couldn't get him either, could you?"  
  
Spectra raised herself to her full height, looming over Bertrand. She unsheathed her claws.  
  
"You worthless amoeba... You said you would make him weak enough for me to overshadow him. You only ended up making him stronger!"  
  
Bertrand cowered under Spectra, realizing the extent of her fury.  
  
"Spectra, I tried... Believe me... I thought I had him!"  
  
"You thought wrong, just like always. I can't afford to have any more screw-ups on your part. I want him back under my control NOW, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get him back...!"  
  
She began to advance toward Bertrand, raising her clawed hands at him. Bertrand backed up, becoming anxious, watching as her hands began to glow with a bright green aura.  
  
"Spectra... No... You wouldn't..."  
  
She leapt forward with a furious snarl, diving into Bertrand's ghost body. He collapsed, succumbing under the strength of her anger, his inner essence dissolving into oblivion as she destroyed him from within. He fell silent, his body melting, settling against the earth in a motionless mound of ectoplasm.  
  
Slowly, the material lost its poisonous glow, taking on a red aura as Spectra's emotions began to assume a physical shape within it. Controlling it from within, she forced it into doing her bidding. The glowing slime rose up, flowing toward the sky, spouting outward to either side, covering a wide area. It spread about, increasing in volume, slowly taking the form of something huge and winged.  
  
Spectra's anger was creating a beast of her own design.


	11. Chapter 11

Slowly and gradually, Sam could feel her senses returning to her. The first thing she noticed was the taste of blood. It was dry and bitter, like the remnants of a bad dream. Then she was met by the wind brushing against her body, cold and unforgiving. She tried to move, but she was being restrained; she moved her arm, and it brushed against a cold, rough surface. Most of her body was laying nearly flat against a somewhat vertical surface, held in place by something large and unmoving. The wind began to howl in her ears. She turned her head toward the vertical surface, shielding herself against the frigid assault. Then, she noticed a different sound; a slow, dull, rhythmic thumping, coming from somewhere beneath the freezing surface to which she clung. It was a very familiar sound, a sound she knew all her life, she came to realize. Among all these other sensations, it was warm and welcoming.  
  
She slowly opened her eyes, her vision somewhat pervaded by a yellow light. Colors and shapes then began to flow into focus. The first shape she recognized was that of Tuck, who lay beside her, also being held up against the vertical surface. His eyes were closed, and he did not move; however, Sam could tell he was still alive by how his breath turned to steam as it left his mouth, due to the surrounding temperature. She looked down at what was holding them up. Whatever it was, it was large and white, branching out in a few places, and it gently held them close to the vertical surface as though it were fashioned for that purpose.  
  
She looked out over the white object, and it was then that she noticed that they were traveling at a high speed, hundreds of feet above the ground. The roofs of buildings flew past underneath them. Down below, the streets were empty.  
  
Seeing the city from this perspective jogged her memory. She looked up; Danny's long dragon neck stretched out before him, his eyes turned forward. His arms crossed over in front of him, holding Sam and Tuck against his chest. Finding herself in Danny's presence, Sam moved her free arm, letting it drape over the wrist of the hand that pressed slightly against her back, embracing it for comfort. She lay back against his support, closing her eyes.  
  
She opened them again soon afterwards, feeling a drop in altitude. She looked down again, watching as the ground slowly rose up to meet them. Danny was coming in for a landing in front of a large important-looking building; Sam recognized it as the city courthouse. The front part of the building was designed to resemble a Roman forum, with tall columns supporting a decorated frieze on the front face, leading down to a wide set of stone steps below. She watched as Danny put his feet out before him to land, then after touching down, got down into a kneeling position. His back arched, and he leaned forward, apparently staying in balance using his tail. When he finally became still, Sam was able to notice how ragged and labored his breathing was. She turned to look toward his face.  
  
"Danny... Are you all right?"  
  
He closed his mouth, swallowed, opened his mouth again to breathe, then arched his neck to look at Sam.  
  
"I think so... 'S just... Tired..."  
  
Sam sympathized; from what all had gone on since the last time Danny was able to rest, he should be exhausted. She knew that he was probably really set on getting her and Tuck to the nearest hospital as soon as possible, but still, he shouldn't be so determined that he risk collapsing from overexertion.  
  
"I'm sorry... but... I had to stop..."  
  
"It's OK, Danny... You just rest for a moment. You need it."  
  
Sam was suddenly startled out of her thoughts by a sound in the distance, a sound that resembled muffled firecrackers going off. She looked in the direction of the sound, behind them and near the upper floors of the buildings, but saw nothing. Danny had apparently heard it as well, and he turned his head to look.  
  
He then gave a shout as he felt several miniscule yet painful stabs in his thigh and lower back. Sam could hear the sound of the small missiles riddling his scaly flesh, going right through his uniform as though it offered no resistance. She twisted around to look, grabbing Danny's arm for support as he stumbled forward, reacting to the pain in his leg. She could see several small metal cylinders sticking out of his skin, some with a bit of flourescent pink fur attached to the ends.  
  
"What... Oh, no..."  
  
Danny also spotted the tranquilizer darts that were stabbed into his body. He began to attempt to pull one arm free so that he could reach down and try to remove the darts, but at the same time he feared the risk of accidentally dropping Sam or Tuck. Before he could come to a compromise, however, he began to lose feeling in his leg. The numbness soon spread to his other leg, and soon after that, he had lost all feeling in his tail.  
  
"Guys... I can't... stand up!"  
  
His legs buckled underneath him as though he had lost total control over them. No longer able to use his tail for balance, his center of gravity rapidly shifted, and he began to fall forward. Quickly, he pulled one arm across his chest, holding Sam and Tuck close against him, then swung his free arm out, straightened the joints, then slammed his hand down against the sidewalk underneath him. Cracks appeared in the concrete, radiating out from underneath his hand.  
  
Sam heard a shrill cry from nearby; Tuck had woke from the pain in his leg, his weight having been suddenly shifted in Danny's embrace.  
  
Danny's lower body lay limp on the ground. Feeling the effects of the drug spreading up his spinal chord, he began to feel an encroaching sense of despair; his arm began to shiver as his strength drained away. His wings fell down against his back, and soon, his arm had become as dead to him as the rest of his limbs.  
  
"Guys... I'm sorry..."  
  
He fell to the side, crashing down on his back on the stone steps of the courthouse. Tuck cried out again as the resulting shock jarred his broken bones. Still held in place against Danny's chest, he and Sam found themselves on top of Danny; his neck curved toward the street, his head resting on its side at the base of the steps. His free arm lay out on the steps, perpendicular to his body, the palm of his clawed hand facing up. Still held down by the weight of his arm, Sam pushed herself up on her arms, her eyes locked on Danny's face.  
  
"...Danny...?"  
  
His eyes were shut, yet his expression was tense; he fought against the effects of the tranquilizer, trying his best to stay conscious. He bared his teeth, as though attempting to frighten it away. However, this was a battle he could not win. Within the space of a few seconds, it was over; his lips slid back over his teeth, his brows unfurrowed, his expression changed to that of quiet placidity. He became eerily still.  
  
"...Danny...?"  
  
He did not respond. Tears began to form in Sam's eyes.  
  
"...Danny!!!"  
  
He remained silent and still.  
  
Sam's subsequent cries for Danny to awaken were suddenly drowned out by the sound of sirens. She and Tuck looked around; they soon found themselves surrounded by just about every type of emergency vehicle the city had control over. Police cars formed a semicircle around Danny, with officers flooding out and taking cover behind their cars. Fire trucks lined the opposite side of the street, firemen climbing out of their vehicles, carrying axes. Military trucks soon filled in any empty space, the soldiers filing out with their weapons, moving into defensive formations. A few military helicopters hovered overhead, the sound of the whirling blades deafening. Anyone with a gun had it aimed at Danny.  
  
Sam and Tuck looked out over the scene that had surrounded them in less than the space of a few minutes. Without having to say a word to each other, both personally agreed that their problems were far from over. 


	12. Chapter 12

The air was tense and still, the only sound being that of the helicopter blades; it was a long time before anyone moved or spoke.  
  
"Alright, area is secure. Creature is down. Sending out personnel to retrieve the hostages."  
  
There was movement among the police cars; a few officers stood up, still holding their handguns, and began to approach the fallen Danny. As they got closer, Sam could hear them talking to each other, muttering. Once within range, they directed their attention to the two teenagers who lay trapped underneath the creature's arm.  
  
"Calm down... It'll be alright... We're here to help you."  
  
One of them lifted his arm toward Sam; it was then that she found her voice.  
  
"No!!"  
  
The man flinched, but the others continued to advance upon Sam and Tuck. Sam wrapped her arms tightly around Danny's arm, looking the officer straight in the eye. Tuck followed suit, despite his inner judgement. Somehow or another, this unusual display of devotion and resistance had its effect; the officers halted before them. The one who stayed his hand before, middle-aged with dark brown hair and a mustache, turned to speak to one of the other men.  
  
"What do you think? Maybe they're just in shock..."  
  
Before they could come to any conclusions, Sam spoke up.  
  
"Leave us alone... He's not dangerous!"  
  
Tuck looked to Sam, then back at the officers, feeling a sweat coming on.  
  
"Yeah... What she said... Uh..."  
  
Sam silenced him with her hand across his mouth.  
  
"Look, I know you think he's a threat, but he isn't..."  
  
She was interrupted by a voice coming over a megaphone from the street.  
  
"What are you waiting for? Get them out of there!!"  
  
One of the men sleeved his gun, turning to face Sam.  
  
"They're obviously out of their minds. We need to get them away from here as soon as possible..."  
  
"NO!!!"  
  
Sam let go of Danny's arm, wrenching herself free from his embrace, getting up on her hands and knees, then rising to her feet, standing up on Danny's chest. Her legs shook underneath her; she was still very weak. Somehow she was able to stand upright, however, and she looked down upon the men in uniform, her arms at her sides.  
  
"He's trying to protect us... He saved everyone... You had NO RIGHT to shoot him!!!"  
  
The men fell silent. Tuck looked up at Sam. She glared down at the men.  
  
"He was taking us to the hospital... He had already brought down the real menace... The other dragon you saw... Or do you even care?? You think that just because something is huge and... not human, that it's some kind of monster, hellbent on destroying everything, and you don't even care where it came from or why it's here or anything, you just wanna bring it down like the bunch of... of... spear-chucking cavemen that you are, like it's some kind of big trophy, just to prove... what? That you can kill, that you can destroy? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!?? It's this very attitude about... that... which you don't understand... that's going to get us all killed in the end!!!"  
  
The scene fell hushed, like a stadium after a sermon, save the helicopters that remained overhead. Somewhere, someone started clapping.  
  
The semi-silence was given a more noticable interruption by the sound of communication radios going off on belts. Sam looked over at the police commander, a white-haired man in a long coat, who had his radio to his ear. His expression changed as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line; suddenly he appeared to be troubled by something, and he looked up at the sky, toward the south. Sam looked to her left, down the street, then up at the sky. In the distance, there was a dark shape, something resembling a spider in mid-air. Judging by its speed, it was miles away, yet it was heading in their direction. Sam could see wings moving slowly up and down.  
  
The commander put down his radio and picked up his megaphone, even though several people were already scattering; the helicopters rose up, turned, and headed away before he even began to speak.  
  
"Everyone evacuate! There's another monster coming, on a direct course through this area!"  
  
A few of the officers turned and ran back toward their cars, but the two closest to Sam and Tuck quickly turned to them, raising their arms in a somewhat hurried gesture.  
  
"Come on, now, we can't leave you here..."  
  
"Yeah, but you'll just leave HIM here!!"  
  
She pointed toward Danny's head. Feeling a hand grasp her leg, she jerked it back; she looked down and noticed that Tuck was the one who grabbed her, not one of the men.  
  
"Sam... Let them take me. I'll only get in the way."  
  
"Right... Right. You go. You need a doctor... Can you guys call an ambulance?"  
  
"We already did, when we found out that your friend was injured. Come on, we'll get you to a hospital..."  
  
With Sam's help, the two men were able to lift Danny's limp arm off of Tuck. Carefully, one of the men took Tuck unto his arms, then bodily carried him away, toward a white van in the street with a red cross on its side. The other officer held out his hand to Sam, as though expecting her to come down.  
  
"No! Not until you get someone to get those darts out of his leg, and then do something to wake him up!"  
  
Sam had absolutely no idea what anyone would be able to do in order to revive Danny, but it seemed to be worth a shot in asking. She certainly didn't want to leave Danny helpless in the face of whatever was coming for them. However, she was assured in that her first request was answered; the officer called over a number of soldiers who had yet to get into their vehicle, who had left off their packing up and instead proceeded to pluck out each dart by hand, throwing them into a metal box they carried with them. Another group of military personnel climbed out of a different vehicle, carrying a number of small black boxes with them and running over towards Danny's head, surrounding him there. One of the soldiers, a blonde woman, opened one of the boxes and pulled out a hypodermic needle. Whatever chemical was inside it was clear and yellow in color, as Sam noticed; she jumped down from Danny's chest, running over to watch what the woman was doing.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
The woman pulled off the protective sleeve on the end of the needle, pointing it upwards and ejecting a small amount of the fluid to remove any air that may have been in the cylinder.  
  
"A modified amphetamine. Used to counter the effects of a tranquilizer without causing too many harmful side effects. We're going to need more than one injection for this thing."  
  
"He's a he, not an it."  
  
"Right."  
  
Sam knew what amphetamines were; she felt a little uneasy at having to witness her friend getting a shot of speed, even if it was meant to help him. The woman put one hand on Danny's neck, feeling around behind his ear-fin. She finally pulled the flap of green skin back, and introduced the injection underneath the scales behind the flap, into the back of his head. She let the flap go and put her hand back on his neck again. She was checking his pulse. After a few seconds, she held out her hand to one of the other soldiers; he handed her another prepared syringe. She pulled back the flap, administering the drug into the same area, apparently where a major vein ran.  
  
She was interrupted in the middle of the third injection by an ear-splitting scream; everyone's attention turned to the sky. Not too far away was the flying creature, an absence of light in the broad sun.  
  
Sam gasped when she saw it. What looked to be a large flying spider in the distance was now very clearly a gigantic spidery black two-headed dragon, at least ten times Danny's size. The two spiked heads hung from the ends of two long, stalk-like necks, which stood out from the great body like the suspended arches of an ancient gothic building. The two wings, large compared to the rest of the body, resembled giant thin-fingered hands; there was sparse membrane stretched between the long, pointed ribs. A long, thin, whiplike tail streamed behind the dragon as it flew toward them. Two powerful legs hung underneath it, razor-like talons protruding from its feet. Its body was as black as the starless night. Once more from its crimson maws came the spine-chilling cry.  
  
As the creature descended upon the scene, people found themselves frozen in place by some unknown force; no matter how hard they tried, they could not move their legs, and their eyes could not help but remain fixed on the demonic being that plagued their vision. The woman dropped the needle that lay in her hand, the glass shattering as it hit the asphalt. Color drained from her face.  
  
Now only a hundred feet away, the dragon slowed to a hover, sending cars and firetrucks flying in the street with the gusts coming off its wings. The spell broken, the soldiers sprang to their feet and dashed away to safety, terrified out of their minds. Sam, finding herself able to move again, dove for Danny's head, wrapping her arms around what she could of his scaly face. She held his head tightly in her embrace, burying her face in his white hair.  
  
She did not look up to see the dragon as it opened its mouths once again, this time with a bright red glow shining from each mouth, the lights growing brighter as it prepared to unleash its attack. She could not bear to watch. 


	13. Chapter 13

Time suddenly slowed down. Sam felt herself being pulled sideways, the ground moving underneath her. Something happened to cause her to let go of Danny, and she was flung backward, sprawling on the concrete. She turned her gaze up at the sky; it had turned emerald green, with strange white patterns flowing across it.  
  
As her surroundings came back into focus, she realized what was happening. Danny's arm was pointed up toward the black monster, his palm facing the twin blood-red beams of light being fired in his direction. Between him and the dragon's assault was an ectoplasmic barrier he had summoned through his will. He had turned his head to face the dragon, and it was because of his movements that he had accidentally thrown Sam off of him.  
  
The intensity of the dragon's mid-air attack was forming a dent in Danny's shield, but try as it might, it could not break it. It ceased its beam attack and reared up, bringing its legs around in front of it. With a loud, wailing screech, it dove toward Danny, its blade-like talons bared.  
  
Sam, frozen with fear from seeing the barrier suddenly fade, barely felt Danny's hand as it closed around her body. He then rolled over onto his feet and leapt forward, catching himself with his other hand as the dragon slammed into the pavement behind him, causing a minor earthquake on impact. The shockwave knocked him off balance, and he fell onto his side, curling his body around to protect Sam from the flying debris. A cloud of dust shrouded the area around the dragon, hiding Danny and Sam from its vision. It roared in frustration, looking around for its prey from where it stood.  
  
"Where's Tuck?"  
  
Sam coughed, the dust getting into her lungs.  
  
"They're taking him to the hospital..."  
  
"Who's taking him?"  
  
"A bunch of guys... Soldiers, police..."  
  
Danny raised his head to look at something.  
  
"...In an ambulance?"  
  
"Yeah... Whoaaah!!"  
  
Suddenly Sam felt herself being lifted again; Danny crawled over on his hand and hind legs towards something on the opposite side of the street from them. As they got closer, Sam could see a white van through the obscuring dust. On its side was a red cross.  
  
The ambulance was half-buried under several wrecked vehicles. Its lights were still on, however. Danny set Sam down next to him, then began using both hands to remove the wrecks from on top of the ambulance. Once it was freed, Sam ran up to the passenger's side window and looked in; there was a man sitting in the driver's seat, looking behind him toward the back of the cab.  
  
"Hey you! Is everyone in there all right?"  
  
Sam beat her hand against the window to get the driver's attention. The man, wearing a white uniform, turned to look at her, then reached out and opened the door.  
  
"We're all right! But we're stuck..."  
  
"You're not stuck anymore. Is my friend in there okay?"  
  
"He's holding up fine. I've got a guy back there making sure he's okay. But we still can't move, there's a bunch of cars blocking our way..."  
  
Sam turned to look in front of the ambulance; he was right, they were still surrounded by several vehicles that were turned on their sides or upside down. She then felt something nudging her in the back.  
  
"Get in."  
  
She turned to look up at Danny.  
  
"I said, get in!!"  
  
Without answer, she climbed into the cab of the ambulance, the driver moving back into his seat to give her room to sit. She pulled the door closed, then proceeded to pull the safety belt around to strap herself in. She looked at the driver, who had a confused look on his face.  
  
"Sir, I think you'd better buckle up..."  
  
The van gave a sudden lurch, and the man looked out the window; the ground seemed to fall away. Carefully, Danny lifted the ambulance into his arms, then turned and stepped over the barricade of destruction, carrying the van away from the wreckage. Once far enough away, he gently set it down. The driver, feeling the vehicle's weight settle against the earth, rolled down his window to see what was going on outside. He was suddenly met by a large pair of glowing green eyes.  
  
"Now GO!!"  
  
He didn't waste a second following Danny's order. Switching on the ignition, he slammed down on the accelerator pedal, and the ambulance sped away down the street, away from Danny and the dragon. Sam looked back through the rear-view mirror, hoping that she would have had a chance to wish Danny luck. As the ambulance rolled away, she watched as Danny turned around, flapped his wings and flew away, disappearing into the dust cloud.  
  
He was now on his own.  
  
Danny put his hands together, a ball of glowing ghost energy forming between them. He then brought his hands around in front of him, turning his palms outward, and fired the beam of green light in the direction of the black dragon. It struck the creature in the chest, yet left no mark; the creature, having felt the attack, turned its attention to the black and white ghost dragon that all of a sudden flew into its vision. It raised its heads, opening its mouths, hissing at Danny. He froze in midair, hovering before the monster, recognizing the hissing as a voice.  
  
"Ghosssst boy..."  
  
The creature brought down its great wings, lifting into the air. Swinging its legs behind it, it thrust its wings again, its long tail winding beneath it.  
  
"You are MIIIIINE..."  
  
Before Danny could react in time, the long tail lashed out at him, like a striking cobra. He twisted to the side to attempt to avoid it, but it thrashed him hard across his thigh. Suddenly he felt a sharp, stabbing pain all throughout his body, as though he had been struck by lightning, just from the creature's touch. He gasped for air, his wingbeat slowed. The next thing he felt was the creature's clawed foot catching him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards, crashing into the side of a building.  
  
He lay where he fell, in the center of the collapsed structure, covered in dust and bricks. He could barely move; it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He felt a strange warmth in his chest. Putting his hand on his ribs, he felt something soaking into his uniform, seeping out of a number of deep wounds where the creature's claws had struck him. He twisted his neck to look at his hand; the palm of his white glove was covered in blood. Black, oily ghost-dragon blood.  
  
Overhead, the dark monster loomed, screaming out its challenge. He looked up at the winged behemoth, trying his best to catch his breath, although it was getting harder for him to breathe with all the dust still in the air. He had learned the hard way that there was no way he would be able to defeat the creature in direct combat. But he knew he had to defeat it somehow.  
  
What am I gonna do? What CAN I do? My blasts didn't hurt it... It's too fast for me to dodge... And it's too strong for me to fight. If only I could find a weakness... Something that would give me some kind of advantage... But I can't stop and think about that now, I have to get it away from here before it tries to destroy anything else... Before any more innocent people are hurt... Like Tucker... Or even Sam...  
  
Summoning his strength, he pulled himself into a sitting position, bringing his wings up and flapping them to try and clear the air. Having spotted him from its mid-air roost, the dragon howled, turning to make a dive at him. Getting down on all fours, he leapt into the air, beating his aching wings furiously, taking off like a flying serpent into the air. He aimed himself toward at the dragon, straightening his form, despite the cries of his muscles. Its course unwavering, the dragon continued to fly down toward Danny, bringing its legs around and baring its talons, as though ready to grab him. The two came at each other on a straight course.  
  
At the last moment, Danny tilted his wings, darting upward; the dragon shot past underneath him. He flew between the creature's twin necks, down its back, then made a sharp turn upwards away from the long tail, which swung up in an attempt to nab him before he could fly out of reach, missing his feet by an inch. He continued to fly straight, keeping his wings level, gaining speed.  
  
Out before him lay the great expanse of water that was Lake Michigan. Soon the buildings and streets of Amity Park were behind him; he didn't dare turn his head lest he slow his flight due to wind resistance. He knew for a fact that the black dragon was behind him, giving chase like he knew it would, proof being the wailing cries of anger directed his way.  
  
The sky before him was darkening; the sun was setting in the west, behind him. The sky above was gradually deepening in color, taking on hues of purple and red. Clouds were scattered here and there, forming a layer off in the distance; a storm was approaching on the wind current. He could see small flashes of white lightning among the distant clouds.  
  
Another screech back behind him brought him to focus. Remembering his original plan, he began to head into a shallow dive, heading down at an angle toward the water. Not looking back, he tilted his wings, steepening his dive.  
  
A bright red light illuminated the lake's surface below. Startled, he turned his head to look behind him.  
  
He lost all feeling for a split second, then had it return at full intensity immediately afterward. The first thing he noticed was that his upper back had suddenly lost a considerable amount of weight, then as his nerves then announced to him in a fiery bolt of excruciating agony, he came to discover that both of his wings had been blasted away by the dragon's energy beams. The large flaming shreds of what was once his flesh and bone fell away from him, toward the deep blue.  
  
At first, naturally, he was in denial; he flapped what remained of his wings, a pair of singed stubs, then realized the truth once he began to rapidly lose altitude. The lake's surface flew up to meet him, the undulations seemingly spreading as though welcoming him in.  
  
Feeling the cold winds flowing over his damaged body, soothing his scorching wounds, he closed his eyes. 


	14. Chapter 14

"Sam... Where's Danny?"  
  
Danny snapped back to full attention, hearing Tuck's voice as though he were close by.  
  
"He went off to fight that monster. Last I saw of him was when he flew back into the dust to look for it..."  
  
He looked around; he was still falling, thousands of feet above the surface of the lake, but closing in on it fast.  
  
"I'm afraid, Tuck... I'll admit it... That creature is so powerful... I'm afraid he's not going to make it out of this... And... And that I'll never see him again..."  
  
He heard her break down into tears.  
  
Don't cry, Sam. You'll see me again. I make that promise to you.  
  
He turned over in the air, putting his back toward the water below. He spread his arms and legs out, attempting to create resistance. His shredded wings underneath him cried out to him in protest, but he ignored it. Instead, he closed out all feelings, all sounds, shutting down each of his senses, and concentrated on one thing and one thing only.  
  
His aura began to flare brighter, trailing toward the sky above like the shimmering dust tail of a falling star as he fell. Gradually he began to feel a decrease in speed; it was as though time itself were slowing down for him. The rush of the wind against his body slowly began to die away. His body became less tense, and for a moment he felt as though he had become absolutely weightless...  
  
He opened his eyes. He lay still, floating in mid-air. He turned over in the air and looked down; he had come to a complete stop only a few feet above the water's surface. Giving a shout of joy, he reached down and swatted the water with one hand. He had regained his ability to levitate.  
  
A red light shining down on him brought him back to alertness. He gave himself a second mental command, and the lower half of his body suddenly began to lose its stability and form, dissolving into a stream of black spectral matter. Putting his arms behind him, he turned and bolted, taking off through the air like a rocket. Behind him, the dragon's twin beams struck the water, causing it to boil and send up a white-hot cloud of vapor. Seemingly infuriated by Danny's display of power and control, the dragon screamed out a challenge, diving to give chase.

* * *

Sam felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised her head, having had it face down in her arms, against the bed upon which Tuck lay. Around her, she could feel the ambulance slowing to a stop; soon the doors to her left would open, and once again there would be a flurry of movement to remove them from the vehicle and direct them to safety. All that passed through her mind like a vague memory; she was too lost in her emotions to care.  
  
Once outside, she could tell they were far from the commercial center of Amity Park. Because of the evacuation, they were taken to a hospital on the outskirts of the city, out near the interstate yet still close to the lakeshore. She did not have much time to look around as a number of hospital staff members were ushering her inside the building, behind the few who were wheeling Tuck's cot through the halls toward the emergency room.  
  
Everything since then passed by as though she were in a dream. She found herself a few moments later, leaning against a wall, standing next to the double doors that led into the room where she knew Tuck had been taken. She was alone, save for the occasional doctor, nurse, or person in scrubs who walked past her through the doors, leaving or entering.  
  
She looked at the swinging doors, yet did not see them, being lost in her thoughts. All of a sudden, she felt a sense of apprehension, some kind of strange morbid desire driving her to do action. Having no other preference, she turned and walked away from the emergency room doors, turned the corner, her pace increasing to a jog, then a hard run. She soon found the elevator. Hitting the upstairs button, she was hardly surprised when the doors slid open soon afterward, the car having already been stationed at that floor. She darted inside, reaching out to touch the button that would take her to the highest floor.

* * *

Danny turned his head, getting a good look at the giant winged shadow in pursuit of him. He raised one hand, aimed his index finger, and fired a bolt of ectoplasmic energy toward the dragon's head. The beam struck the dragon's head, hitting it in one of its eyes. It responded with a cry of pain, then followed up with another pair of energy blasts from its mouths. Danny swerved upward, the beams striking the water below him. The dragon continued to fire upon him, missing as he was gaining altitude.  
  
He had an idea for a way that would eventually give him an advantage over the creature, having remembered something else he had learned long ago as a result of his aspirations to become an astronaut. The first thing he had to do was drive the monster to attack him again, which he had already easily accomplished; the next part involved flying straight up with the creature following right behind him. He hoped his attack on the dragon had given it enough incentive to want to follow him where he was planning on going.  
  
He brought himself completely vertical, heading straight up into the clouds. Soon his surroundings had become cold, damp, and murky. Unable to see through the thick shroud of water vapor, he had to rely on the pull of gravity behind him in order to ensure that he was still heading in the right direction. Muffled through the clouds, the sound of the monster's cries gave testimony to the fact that the dragon was still behind him.  
  
After a long while of traveling through the clammy darkness, he finally reached the lower levels of the upper atmosphere, bursting out of the low-flying cloudbank. He was then startled by a sleek white shape entering his peripheral vision. He turned his head; he was directly in the path of a commercial jet. The resulting mental impulse was instantaneous. He hardly felt the airplane's wing as it slashed completely through his midsection, causing no harm to him as he was able to make himself intangible at the last moment. He stopped and turned to watch as the aircraft flew away, hoping beyond hope that his passing through any part of the plane didn't do anything that would cause it to malfunction later on; even though he had phased through a plane once before, conditions were not the same for him this time around. He continued to watch the rapidly departing plane, his mind fixed on the safety of its passengers.  
  
An infernal blast of crimson light flying past him brought him back to the matter at hand. He swung his arms back behind him and took off into the sky, climbing like a homesick angel. Soon he had disappeared into a higher cloudbank, the black monster following right behind, roaring for its prey to surrender.


	15. Chapter 15

Danny eventually lost track of time as he traveled along his vertical path. He was far ahead of the dragon; although it still followed him at a steady pace, he was safely out of range of any of its attacks. As he sped past cloud after cloud, things started to become monotonous, and eventually his mind began to wander...  
  
What is this thing, where did it come from, and why was it so easy to get it to chase me? I know I'm an easy target, but still... If it came straight toward me right from the start... Then it obviously has something against me... But what? I've never seen this thing before in my life! What could it possibly want with me?  
  
He deliberated on the monster's intentions for a good long while. As time passed on, he gradually began to lose his concentration; he then realized that he was starting to feel woozy. He shook his head, looked behind him and saw the black spider-dragon still maintaining pursuit, yet also starting to show signs of weakness. Its tongues hung from its open mouths, green saliva streaming from its twin sets of jaws. It was also starting to slow down, although it was hard for Danny to notice as his flight speed was decreasing as well. He turned back to face his direction of travel, and forced himself to keep going.  
  
He finally emerged from one last cloudbank and met the face of heaven. All around him was a flat plain of crystal blue, illuminated solely by the stars above, the lights of which shone with nearly complete clarity through the thin atmosphere. The thin rim of a crescent moon appeared large before him, the remainder of the great satellite blocking out starlight like a giant hole in the sky.  
  
He realized that he was losing strength rapidly; he slowed down to a hover, allowing his hind legs and tail to resolve from the trail of matter. He tried to catch his breath, but found it nearly impossible, as the air was so thin at this altitude. He didn't worry himself over it; this was part of his plan. He looked down at the ebbing whiteness, waiting.  
  
Soon enough, the twin heads burst from the cloud, disturbing the serene surface. The black stalks stood out against the flowing white, the red mouths glowing. Danny could see that it was aiming its mouths at him, yet nothing else was happening; apparently its power didn't hold up in the thin air, as its energy beams were unable to materialize. After several attempts, it finally realized its disability, and it resorted to roaring in anger, which it also found difficulty with seeing as how it was barely able to draw breath. It swung its long necks around, beating its huge wings furiously, fighting to keep itself airborne in the low pressure.  
  
Danny looked down upon the thrashing monster. It was as though the layer of clouds was holding it back, smothering it. As far as he was concerned, though, his plan was working; the dragon's larger lung capacity was making it harder for it to breathe at this altitude. Of course, Danny wasn't immune to the effects of the thin atmosphere either, but at least he wasn't faring as badly as the creature that was so bent on destroying him.  
  
The black monster continued to thrash, its infuriated roars coming out as shrill squeaks. Watching it struggle, Danny recalled what Spectra had said, about how anger was a beast, a feral demon whose sole intention was to lay waste to everything around it... but only as long as it wasn't kept under check. Whatever this creature was, it was certain that whatever created it had to have nothing to inspire it but pure fury.  
  
He hovered high above it, watching it thrash about, waiting for it to tire out; he had no idea how to attack it without putting himself in danger of being attacked, so he figured that if he could get it to where it would wear itself off trying to attack him, it would become easier to confront.  
  
He was caught off guard when the two necks began twisting around each other, wrapping around like a pair of ropes turning into a braid. They swung harder and faster as they bound themselves closer and closer, the two heads finally slamming into each other at the end, with enough force that they seemed to melt into each other--they actually were merging into each other, Danny realized, it's not my imagination... That thing can change its form, just like Bertrand was able to do...  
  
The two necks also began to melt into each other, forming a single neck, although the braid-like shape still showed on the outside. The creature arched its neck, bringing back its single head, the eyes opening... Four eyes... Four glowing red eyes. Four long black spikes stood out on the back of the head. The mouth had two whole sets of teeth, one behind the other, like a demonic shark. It spread its massive jaws, turned its head to face Danny, and let out a thunderous roar.  
  
He noticed the bright red glow shining from the back of the monster's throat, yet he was too slow to react in time. 


	16. Chapter 16

Jazz was no idiot. Having paid close attention to the local news, she knew exactly what had happened to her little brother. She could recognize that black and white outfit anywhere. Although it was rather difficult for her to grasp the fact that he wasn't what one would call "little" anymore, seeing as how she had absolutely no idea how or why he became that way, she could still tell her sibling from the reptilian creature she had seen doing battle against the two other dragons that had just recently appeared in Amity Park.  
  
With the remainder of the Fenton family being sent to the farthest city limits because of the evacuation, she had to make a trip to the only nearby automotive shop to find materials for one of Jack's anti-ghost devices, which he hoped to complete before any of the attacking monsters left the area. On her way towards the shop, walking down the sidewalk, she passed two men, who were talking about how the last two dragons turned and flew out over the lake after a brief fight. Too worried about keeping Danny's secret to want to raise suspicion by asking questions, she kept walking, ignoring the pair. Above, the sky was beginning to cloud up; a thunderstorm was on the approach, due to affect the area within the hour.  
  
As she made her way past the local hospital, however, she noticed the ambulance that pulled up, the members of hospital staff rushing out of the building to move the vehicle's occupants inside. She nearly froze when she saw the person laying on the stretcher, his leg in a bind. Following behind him among the nurses was another familiar face. Jazz stopped and watched them from the sidewalk until they disappeared from view behind the automatic sliding doors of the hospital's emergency entrance.  
  
Sam and Tuck always followed Danny around everywhere, and yet here they were without him around. For Tuck to have such an injury where he needed immediate medical attention, separating him and Sam from Danny, something terrible must have happened... She shuddered, thinking about what else might happen from this turn of events. Making up her mind, she abandoned her original task, turning from the sidewalk and running toward the front entrance to the hospital.

* * *

Upon waking, it took Danny a long time to realize that his eyes had opened; all he could see was the darkness that completely enshrouded him. He blinked, having noticed a momentary flash of light in the corner of his eye. He tried to turn his head, but was soon met by the screaming protests of the nerves in his neck, which then seemed to set off a chain reaction all throughout his body; he was in intense pain within a matter of seconds, as though a switch had been thrown somewhere in his nervous system as a result of his movement. The scrapes on his arms and legs, the burns in his throat, the claw-gouges on his face--each and every wound on his body felt as though they were being opened further by some unknown force. He tried to shut his mind out from the searing pain, but found it impossible; underneath the constant assault of his nerves, however, he could feel a pressure on his chest, something clamping down hard around his midsection.  
  
It was then that he noticed that he was suspended in mid-air, laying on his back, his neck and tail hanging from whatever had a hold on his body. He could not move his arms or legs, as they were within the bonds that held him tight. He felt a chill against the side of his face; wind was blowing against him. He was moving, being carried rapidly through the air. Down below him came the sound of splashing water and crashing waves; he was still above the lake.  
  
"Meddling ghost-freak... Soon I shall have what I want..."  
  
The ominous voice echoed in his mind: dark, poisonous, utterly saturated with malice. The very sound of it seemed to make his pulse come to a standstill. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the four glowing blood-red eyes turn toward him, the jaws spreading into a hellish grin, the black teeth standing out against the crimson interior of the creature's mouth.  
  
His gaze was frozen to that of the monster. He saw nothing else. The red eyes watched the color draining from Danny's face, black smoke rising from its jaws as it laughed at him.  
  
"There is nothing you can do now... Nothing..."  
  
He could feel the intense heat coming off the netherworldly creature's breath. It was like the flames of Hell were licking at his face.  
  
"All you can do is just watch... Watch as the world you know comes to an end."  
  
The more he listened to the voice, the more familiar it began to sound, like a nightmare being awakened from deep within his mind. Except that as he began to recognize it, the effect it was having on him was starting to weaken; he had no reason to be afraid of it once he discovered who it was. He had no clue as to how she ended up taking the form of such a fearsome creature, but right now, it didn't matter to him. Fighting back the pain, he found the strength to move his vocal cords.  
  
"Spectra... Whatever you're going to do... I won't let you..."  
  
He shut his eyes, the spell broken. He heard her snort in answer.  
  
"So you finally figured it out, ghost-freak... No matter... This is the end for you."  
  
"And what do you mean... by that...?"  
  
"I'm taking you back... Back to your home... That pathetic stack of bricks and mortar you call a city... And you will do nothing but watch as I destroy everything you tried so hard to protect, everything you hold so dear."  
  
He turned his head to look, and found that he was being held securely between Spectra's two hind feet, which resembled those of a maleficent bird of prey.  
  
"I could easily kill you now... But that would be such a waste of blood... I want to make you suffer... Suffer for everything you've done to me... Once I'm done laying waste to your city... You will be begging me to end it for you."  
  
Something wet struck his cheek; he opened his eyes. He noticed another flash of light, and realized that Spectra was flying into a storm. Rain fell all around them, lashing against Danny's weakened body mercilessly. Jagged spears of lightning stood out against the darkening sky, the resulting thunder deafening. It was the same storm he had seen heading toward Amity Park on his way out over the lake; they were getting close to the city.  
  
"I... won't... let... you..."  
  
Once again he heard her snort at him in response.  
  
"You keep telling yourself that... Despite what you know to be true..."  
  
He could feel her bond tighten on him, her claws digging into his unprotected flesh. The tone of her voice began to soften.  
  
"And yet, I've always wondered why... I mean, you of all the... things... I've met... should know your limits. What could possibly lead you to believe... that somehow you could find a way to stop me, that you could actually defeat me?"  
  
She bent her talons inward, piercing between Danny's scales.  
  
"It's like you always put yourself in denial... Thinking that you can summon strength you do not have... Thinking that maybe someone who doesn't even exist will support you, even come to your rescue..."  
  
Danny's mind flashed to Sam and Tuck. He tried to concentrate, but he could not hear their voices. Something was shutting them out...  
  
"They do exist... My friends..."  
  
Spectra laughed.  
  
"Do you even realize the position you're in? Do you really think, that in a situation like this, that your two puny little friends have the power to save you?"  
  
Danny could feel her front end begin to tilt downward. They were closing in on the city.  
  
"They can do nothing... Just like you can do nothing... And soon, they will BE nothing..."  
  
Her wings folded back slightly, her descent speed increasing.  
  
"Silly to think that they would be of any help to you in the first place... Nothing lasts forever, you know... Not even the bond two people claim to have... In the end, it always breaks... Everything breaks."  
  
Danny watched as she seemed to moved forward, putting herself before him; she had actually moved her legs behind herself, putting Danny behind her to increase her flight speed. The harsh rain whipped at him, as though mocking him. The clouds below them began to clear; Danny could see the water below getting more and more shallow as they approached the shores of the lake. In the distance, he saw tiny dots of light; the automated streetlights of Amity Park, the last lights left functioning, marked its position in the fading gloom.  
  
Spectra's words resonated in his ears. He didn't actually think that Sam and Tuck would have the ability to physically emancipate him from Spectra's clutches... I mean, come on. Unless they could fly here on a winged purple unicorn and blast Spectra out of the sky with a magical spell, they're not worth a thing in the brute strength category...  
  
The distant lights became more prominent as they descended from the thundering clouds.  
  
But it's not by their strength and protection that I usually end up winning... Well, maybe sometimes it is, but most of the time it's just their being there... their trust in me... that gives me the strength to come out on top... And it's that kind of strength that's more powerful than any kind of physical force I've known...  
  
He could hear the crash of the surf breaking against the rocks along the shoreline below.  
  
A force more powerful than anything human... And yet it comes from humans... Sure, being part ghost gives me an advantage most of the time... But it's my human half that makes me who I am...  
  
Spectra opened her jaws wide, roaring triumphantly.  
  
"Okay, Spectra, so what? Really! So what if everything breaks? Nothing's MEANT to last forever! Not friendship, or strength, or even a person's temper... I may lose them all... But if I do... Th-that only goes to show... that... I'm only human!!!"  
  
Light burst from somewhere near his chest. He turned his head; something had appeared at the base of his neck, encircling it in a ring of golden light. He felt a sudden weight on his neck, hard and cold. His mind running frantic on a single spark of hope, he swung his neck as hard as he could, arching it upwards, aiming his head toward the shining object. Gleaming yellow metal and a glowing green jewel caught his eye; he slid his lower jaw underneath the Amulet, shut his mouth, then pulled his neck back as hard as he could. He heard a loud snap as the metal chain broke under his pull.  
  
Spectra screeched in surprise, immediately losing her grip on Danny; his body had suddenly took on a blinding yellow aura. He did not fall from her clutches, but instead hung in mid-air, held up by an unseen magical force.  
  
Danny's body suddenly went numb. His vision became blank. Unable to feel his mouth, he concentrated on keeping perfectly still, hoping that his mouth remained shut, lest he accidentally drop the Amulet. Although he was completely devoid of any kind of physical sensation, he was still able to tell how his center of gravity shifted, moving up his spine; his tail was apparently steadily retracting into his backbone. His neck soon lost most of its weight. In fact, he was losing weight all over his body...  
  
The light slowly began to fade around him, his vision being restored. He quickly turned his gaze upon himself; he caught the last remnants of his sharp claws as they dulled to a flat edge and became small and broad, turning into fingernails. He was then interrupted by the large metal object that sat between his teeth, which was getting drooled on accidentally. Reaching up and removing the Amulet from his mouth, he instinctively shoved it into a side pocket on his uniform, which now fit him in a more familiar fashion.  
  
He then saw the glowing red jaws open before him, a bright red light shining from them. He put both hands before him just as the beam struck him, glancing off the ectoplasmic shield. He was knocked back by the force of the blast, quickly regaining his position afterward. Spectra swung her disfigured neck toward him again, opening her mouth. Danny looked into her throat, noting how she was keeping her neck straight. She began to gather energy for her next attack.  
  
Danny stood his ground. He stayed in front of her, turning to face her, keeping his body straight. He put his hands out in front, his palms starting to glow.  
  
The red ball of energy inside Spectra's mouth shone brighter, its strength intensifying. Suddenly, it pulled back, retracting into her throat, ready to spring forward.  
  
"AaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"  
  
Danny took off like a bullet, his hands before him, balled into fists that shone with an emerald light. Spectra barely saw him coming; he shot past her jaws, narrowly avoiding the blade-like teeth, and disappeared down her throat.  
  
The ectoplasmic energy radiating from his thin form, blinding and intimidating, was the last thing she saw.


	17. Chapter 17

Sam crossed her arms on the concrete ledge, leaning forward against it, looking out at the scene before her. The sky above was darkening; the clouds had been gathering for some time now. Thunder rumbled, signaling the storm's arrival. Down in the streets, wind scattered dead leaves and litter about. In response to the encroaching darkness, streetlamps began flickering on, casting a futile light on the gloom. Shadows became less and less marked as night gradually fell on the city.  
  
She shivered, feeling the cold storm winds brush against her bare skin. The chill brought a sharp contrast to the warmth she felt in her face, the hot tears that occasionally slipped down her cheeks. She knelt down against the loose gravel that served as covering for the building's roof, putting her head down against her crossed arms.  
  
The sound of a door opening interrupted her thoughts. After hearing it click shut again, she drifted back into her depressive meditation.  
  
"...Sam?"  
  
Footsteps on the gravel approached her from behind.  
  
"Sam... I think we need to talk."  
  
Jazz absolutely hated having to do this, but in order for her to maintain the bond of trust she held for her brother, she was going to have to hurt Sam in one of the worst possible ways.  
  
"I need to know where Danny is, and if he's all right."  
  
She could hear Sam whimpering, and she immediately wished she could have put more thought into her words. Walking up behind Sam, she reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"...I'm sorry..."  
  
Sam's arm came up and swatted Jazz's away. She whipped around to face her, and Jazz could tell by the redness in her eyes that she had been crying for a good long while before she had found her up here. She could also feel Sam's pain in the way her voice shuddered as she answered her.  
  
"I... I don't... know where he is. Leave me alone."  
  
It was obvious to Jazz that Sam wasn't telling the truth. She could tell that it was Sam's knowledge of Danny's whereabouts and condition that had driven her to such a miserable state. That kind of empathy could only come from a really strong bond. Jazz put her hands together and closed her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Sam was too frustrated with herself to respond. Why did his stupid big sister have to come up here and bother me? Why can't everyone just leave me alone? Why must I constantly be reminded of him... reminded of how I had to leave him behind...  
  
She stood up, turning to look back toward the lake in the distance. Jazz watched her, feeling her pain. The poor girl... Whatever happened to separate her from Danny, it must have been really hard on her, for her to be acting this way now... I would imagine Danny to be feeling the same way... He must feel like he's living a nightmare... I wonder how long he's been stuck in that dragon body, what happened to him that made him end up that way? ...Of course, it should be none of my business, seeing as how Sam's so adamant in keeping it from me... But I wish there was something I could do...  
  
"Sam... Whatever's going on... Wherever Danny is..."  
  
Sam bowed her head, wishing she could shut out Jazz's words.  
  
"...We need to be strong... for his sake."  
  
Jazz walked up to Sam, stepping around her, getting between her and the concrete ledge. She raised her arms, holding them out straight from her sides, as though to bar Sam from passage. Sam looked up at her as she did this, noting the significance of her motion; Jazz was acting like she thought Sam was contemplating suicide. But the gesture was also warm and inviting, like she was offering a request for a bear hug. It was strange, this signal that Jazz seemed to be sending to her, standing there with her arms wide open, smiling.  
  
"We have to be strong for him. No matter what happens. Don't you think so?"  
  
Sam turned to face her, looking up into her blue-green eyes. She blinked, somewhat confused, as a fresh tear made its mark on her cheek.  
  
A bright flash suddenly threw Jazz's silhouette into shadow in front of Sam. Jazz screamed, hearing the deafening roar of the explosion, the subsequent shockwave of which threatened to knock her off her feet. She flailed, losing her balance. Sam immediately grabbed Jazz's arms and pulled her away from the ledge, throwing her back upon the rocks, saving her from the fall.  
  
Sam stood up and looked up at the source of the blast. A dissolving cloud of black dust hung in the air over the shoreline, at least a mile away from the hospital. Streams of shimmering light and color were falling from it like the remnants of a burnt-out firework, each one varying in hue and shade, like a release of pent-up emotion. The glittering entities fells into the water below, disappearing underneath the heaving waves.  
  
Suddenly, she noticed something else, something that shone with a different light; a small, lithe figure, like a broken doll, illuminated somewhat by the glittering lights that fell with him, suddenly giving off a bright glow as a ring of white light surrounded him, split into two separate rings, scanned over his body and then faded from sight and existance as he plunged headfirst into the lake.  
  
Jazz looked up, also having noticed the white light. She opened her mouth to speak, but a slamming door silenced her; she turned to look and found that Sam had disappeared. 


	18. Chapter 18

Sam ran as though her feet were on wings. She did not feel the sidewalk under her boots, nor the asphalt road, nor the loose dirt that served as pavement the closer she came to where the land ended. Buildings passed by unnoticed, the circles of light beneath streetlamps becoming monotonous as she dashed through them, one after another, a repetitive session of light and darkness. She didn't even notice the raindrops falling on her until they finally came down in a massive downpour, soaking her clothes, which in turn started weighing her down, slowing her run.  
  
She finally came to a stop underneath the beam of a streetlamp, the last one standing at the edge of the residential area, near the shore road. Everything around her was in total darkness; pitch black. The sheets of water falling through the lamp's beam were the only moving things within her vision, giving her the subconscious impression of another presence. As she looked out upon the blackness, her body began to respond to her halt, and she began to feel dizzy; she reached out to put one hand on the streetlamp post to steady herself.  
  
Suddenly, the sky was afire with a jagged white blaze of lightning. Sam shielded her eyes, instinctively jerking her hand back from the post so as to not end up getting electrocuted. Although the light faded immediately afterwards, her surroundings were frozen in her memory like a photograph; there before her was the shore road, on the other side of which were the shore-protecting rocks that led down to the low-tide beach, from there flowed the edge of the lake.  
  
She stepped out of the light, running toward the images in her mind's eye. She felt it when her shoes left the dirt and made contact with the hard pavement, crossing it, hitting dirt again; she slowed down, and her foot touched stone.  
  
She stopped, waited.  
  
Another beam of lightning flashed across the forsaken skies, illuminating the world below in shades of blue and white. The rocks were large and ragged, piled along the shoreline, scattered about down on the beach. The lake surged underneath the tumultuous rainfall, like an animal moves about in response to a smaller animal constantly pestering it for attention.  
  
The scene was then quickly thrown back into darkness, the only sound being that of the resulting thunder. However, only one part of the scene stayed in Sam's mind, that of a lonely figure adrift on the heaving waves, face down, in a white shirt and blue jeans, unmoving.  
  
Sam stepped out onto the rocks, turning around, descending backwards. She chose speed over care, and in her haste her foot slipped halfway down, and she received a cut on her leg. Feeling the warm blood soaking her cloth legging, she slowed her pace, and yet soon found herself standing on the flat sand. She turned and dashed out toward the water, the lightning flashing once more as though to guide her. It was shallow only for a short distance; she soon found it deep enough for her to start swimming. She dove in, feeling the water entering her shoes, turning them into lead weights that threatened to drag her down. Trying to ignore the weight, she kicked out as hard as she could, keeping herself in line with Danny. The rain pelted her unprotected skin, occasionally hitting her in the eyes, obscuring her vision for a moment as she was forced to blink away the pain.  
  
She felt something bump against her arm. She groped around frantically, feeling an arm and fingers, all limp. She then swung her arm out, catching Danny around his torso. She rolled over onto her back, kicking out with her resisting legs, paddling with her free arm, holding Danny as close to her as she could without his dead weight pulling her downward. Within moments she felt the sandy shallows brushing against her back. She stopped, sat up, pushing Danny off of her, then grabbed his hands in hers, stood up, stepped backwards, dragging Danny along on his back, onto the beach, out of the troubled waters.  
  
She stopped, feeling her heavy boot thud against a rock. Laying his arms down, she stepped carefully around him, her hand on his shoulder to help her remember his position. She then knelt down beside him, running her hand across him, feeling his face; his eyes were closed, his mouth open.  
  
"Danny... Can you hear me?"  
  
Another lightning flash; she could see his face, his wet hair laying down against his head, his pale skin, his expression that of hopeless submission.  
  
She touched his face again, feeling along the cheek, noting how cold and clammy his skin was.  
  
"Say something..."  
  
He offered no response.  
  
Sam moved her hand down his chest, noticing how it failed to move. She then snatched up his hand, putting her thumb against his wrist. She waited, feeling for that which would not come.  
  
Realizing the truth, she dropped the hand, heat once again surging in the skin on her face.  
  
"No, Danny..."  
  
She put her hands to her face.  
  
"No..."  
  
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was truly afraid. All had become hopeless.  
  
All was lost.  
  
For his sake...  
  
What could she do? She had lost him.  
  
For him... Be strong.  
  
He drowned. He's DEAD. No breathing, no pulse...  
  
You haven't lost him yet.  
  
He's dead...  
  
You'll only lose if you give up.  
  
But...  
  
You can't give up. You have to be strong.  
  
Danny...  
  
For his sake.  
  
Sam finally stopped crying. She removed her hands from her face, and somehow or another, she could see him laying there before her, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness somewhat. She reached down, touched his face again, putting her hand around his lower jaw, pulling it down, opening his mouth further. With both hands she moved his head, turning it so that it faced straight upwards, tilting it back. With one hand she then closed off his nose, holding his jaw open with the other hand. She leaned over him, looked down at his face. She knew she could not afford to be afraid any longer, though she was still anxious over remembering her lessons in CPR... Leaning down, she took a breath, then put her mouth to Danny's, exhaling straight into his mouth.  
  
What comes next? Oh, right. She turned her head, putting her ear to Danny's mouth, listening for the air as it left his lungs. There was a slight gurgling noise coming from deep within his chest, but that was all. She turned her head back, took another breath, then repeated the action, breathing into his mouth. She then turned back to listen again. All she heard was the water being moved about by the air; with her ear to his mouth, she watched as his chest fell.  
  
She leaned back, letting go of his face, feeling along his chest for the edge of his ribcage. It wasn't too hard to find; his being naturally thin, yet also enhanced by the fact that he hadn't eaten in more than a day, his ribs stood out noticeably underneath his cold skin. She found his central chestbone easily.  
  
Putting her hands one on top of the other, she placed the heel of her lower hand against the end of the sternum, and thrust downward. She was somewhat surprised by the water that suddenly gushed up from Danny's mouth, knowing that the thrust was supposed to get his heart started again... She pushed down again, but no more water came up. She knew that there was a set number of times she was supposed to be giving him thrusts, but she couldn't remember what it was. She kept pushing down, letting up and then pushing down again, hoping that it would drive more water out of his lungs, but nothing happened.  
  
She leaned down, putting her ear to his chest.  
  
Inside his ribcage, all was silent and still. Just like it was before she started.  
  
Her head remained on his chest; she couldn't make herself move.  
  
"Danny..."  
  
She closed her eyes, feeling the warm tears come again.  
  
"Why, Danny... Why..."  
  
She lost her balance, and her knee slid out from under her, accidentally striking Danny in the side. He did not give a jerk, nor did he voice a response, turning to Sam and asking her what that was for, reaching down to rub his battered thigh... It was as though nothing had happened; his sleep was undisturbed.  
  
Sam reached down to move her knee back, and felt something hard pressing against it. Just his bones, she thought, her hand on her knee... But somehow, it seemed to hard to be just his bone, too flat and edgy as well...  
  
She reached down to feel along his thigh, realizing that he had something in his pocket. Reaching in with one hand, pushing back the wet denim flap, she wrapped her fingers around and removed the object, a gold necklace with a jewel that suddenly started glowing with an ethereal green light as soon as she laid eyes on it.  
  
Sam nearly froze when she saw the Amulet. For the moment she had forgotten what all Danny had gone through beforehand, all he had done to try and protect her, to save her life... He had made a promise to her, she remembered, looking at the glowing green gem. It was hard to get him to make that promise, considering the fact that all seemed hopeless, but still, in the end, he made that promise; he promised to her that he would not give up on her, no matter what happened.  
  
And to think that came out of the promise she had made to him first, that she would not give up on him.  
  
He laid down his life for her. Not just for her, she then realized, but for Tuck as well, and for his family... For everyone in Amity Park, it seems.  
  
And now his life was in her hands.  
  
"For your sake, Danny..."  
  
She lay the Amulet down on the sand next to his head, able to see him better by the light coming off the jewel.  
  
"...I won't give up."  
  
She put her hands together again, one on top of the other, and once again began administering thrusts to his chest. She counted to twenty, having remembered her lesson, then stopped, checked his pulse. Nothing. She went back to the thrusts again, counting to twenty. She lifted his bony wrist, pressed her thumb against it. She could feel a slight rhythmic pressure against her thumb that time; a pulse, very faint, but a pulse nonetheless.  
  
Dropping the wrist, she turned her attention to his lungs. She held his mouth open, pinched his nostrils shut, tilted his head back, and breathed into his mouth. She turned her head, watching his chest fall, listening. There again came the gurgle she had heard before, this time much more audible. The number for this one was sixteen, she remembered... She hoped. She repeated the motion, forcing air into his lungs, listening as it came back out. After a while the sound became much louder.  
  
"Come on, Danny... Breathe..."  
  
She turned back to his face, took a breath, exhaled into his mouth. Suddenly, he gave a jerk underneath her, a loud gagging noise emanating from his throat.  
  
She jerked herself back just in time to avoid the spray of water that Danny spat up from his lungs. His eyes shot open; he gave a loud, deep gasp. Sam shoved him over onto his side, and he followed with the roll, coming to rest on his stomach, getting up on his hands and knees, continuing to spit up water. Sam leaned back on her hands, watching Danny, somewhat amazed at the amount of water two lungs could hold, until she realized a moment later that he was also vomiting water out of his stomach, apparently which he had swallowed while trying to keep from drowning. He took a long time, ridding his lungs and stomach of any and all water left inside them, then finally stopped coughing and started breathing, his breaths ragged and heavy. His arms shook under him. Sam leapt forward, sliding her arms underneath him to catch him as he fell to the side, his eyes closed, his strength all drained away.  
  
She pulled him to her, holding up his neck with one arm, letting his head rest against it, her hand on his shoulder. His back lay against her thigh, her other arm crossing over his chest to keep him from sliding off of her. She held him close, her mind on nothing else but his labored breathing, which still came in loud gasps. She sat there, holding him, just listening to him get his breath back. After a while, she noticed him make a hissing noise, sounding out a letter.  
  
"No, Danny, no, don't try to speak... Just breathe..."  
  
She knew perfectly well what he was trying to tell her: Sam, you're shivering. Indeed she was shivering, the cold wet clothes clinging to her skin, and she was probably going to come down with pneumonia or something, but so was Danny; she could feel him shaking slightly within her embrace as well. But what was happening to her wasn't really her concern at the moment; she was more intent on making sure that Danny was going to live through this.  
  
After a long while of just sitting there, ignoring the tingling in her legs, she listened as Danny's breathing gradually became more normal, yet still somewhat labored. Her eyes strayed to the Amulet laying just a couple of feet away from them. It was amazing what all they had gone through just to end up here, and yet they were still alive, seemingly miraculously... They and everyone else, they were all going to be just fine... She suddenly felt the urge to ask Danny, to ask him how he managed to break the Amulet's spell... But she figured that would be for a later time, a time when he felt well enough to want to discuss it.  
  
But for now, everything was going to be fine.  
  
Life would be back to normal for them soon...  
  
Sam leaned her head against Danny's head, feeling the tears coming again. But these were not tears of sorrow; her face did not burn like it did before.  
  
Danny could feel the warmth as it pressed against the side of his head, dripping down under his hair, running down the side of his face... Somehow or another it seemed to lessen the pain he felt in his chest, the muscles of which he must have overexerted while coughing up all that water earlier. But still in all, he hated to see Sam cry, mostly because he never became used to seeing a girl cry... He tried to lift his arm, reaching up to try and touch Sam's face, but he was still not strong enough; his hand fell across his stomach, and he let it lay there, too weak to try and comfort his weeping friend. Instead, he leaned into her embrace, his eyes remaining closed.  
  
"Don't cry, Sam..."  
  
"I'm not... crying..."  
  
He flexed his fingers, feeling an ache in his arm. Pulling his arm sideways, he let it fall next to him, and he felt around, finding his pocket.  
  
"Sam..."  
  
"...Yes?"  
  
"There's still... something... I need to do."  
  
"What..."  
  
She noticed his hand in his pocket. Quickly, she leaned forward, snatching up the glowing Amulet in her free hand, letting Danny slide off onto the ground, her other arm still supporting his neck. She held the Amulet in front of his face, getting back down on her knees.  
  
"Here it is. ...I've got it."  
  
He furrowed his brows, noticing the glow from behind his eyelids. Slowly, he opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness in front of him. He was soon able to identify the object in front of him.  
  
"We need to destroy it."  
  
Sam nodded.  
  
"You'll need my help, though."  
  
"I'll gladly accept it."  
  
Sam leaned back, getting up on her knees. Danny moved his arms to his sides, bending them, attempting to get up on his own, but he did not have the strength. Sam got down beside him, sliding her arms up under his, pulling him up into a sitting position. He barely had enough in him to hold up his head. Getting up off her knees, she was able to help Danny rise up onto his knees, then finally to his feet. She found him a lot lighter than she remembered him being, also due to the fact that he had gone for so long without eating anything. Resting his diminished weight on his legs, he was able to keep himself up, although only with Sam's help.  
  
"My legs hurt."  
  
"I would imagine so."  
  
With Sam holding the Amulet in one hand, holding Danny up with the other arm, the two walked slowly toward the rocks that were strewn across the beach close to the original pile that lay stacked against the shoreline. Danny raised a hand and pointed at one of the rocks, a noticably jagged one that didn't stand up as high as the others. Sam lay the Amulet across it. They then looked around from there they stood; Sam soon found a smaller rock half-buried in the sand. Digging it up with her feet, she knelt down, Danny leaning against her, and they both were able to wrap their arms around the rock, Sam having to support Danny by letting him lean toward her, his neck on her shoulder with her neck on his. Together, they lifted the rock from the ground; together, they carried the side sideways to the Amulet, and together, they raised the rock, bringing it down on the glowing jewel, crushing it instantly.  
  
Blue smoke burst out from underneath the rock, sending them both falling backwards, sprawling on the ground. Giving off a bright light, the smoke curled in on itself, rising up above them, taking the form of the ghost dragon, one that Sam recognized as what Danny looked like before he tried switching to ghost mode. its snakelike body curved in the air, coiling around, spreading its giant wings, turning its head to face them, its green eyes glowing fiercely.  
  
Sam's breath caught in her throat. The winged demon hung over them, baring its fangs, green smoke rising from its nostrils. Sam turned to look at Danny; he lay back in the same manner she did, holding himself up with his hands, but he didn't seem as tense; in fact, it looked like he was staring the dragon down.  
  
The dragon turned to face Danny directly. It growled at him, sensing his indignant expression. He did not move; his gaze did not shift, and his expression did not change.  
  
Sam understood. What reason is there to be afraid of something you've already been?  
  
The dragon recoiled slowly, folding its wings. Its growling ceased, and it lowered its head in defeat. Suddenly, its body began to dissolve into a blue mist, and soon, it had faded from existance completely, leaving Danny and Sam alone on the beach.  
  
In the fading light, Sam saw Danny starting to lose his balance, falling backwards. She rolled over and dove to his side, letting him fall back on her, his head coming to rest against her stomach. His eyes closed; he had fallen unconscious. 


	19. Chapter 19

Darkness slowly faded into light. Danny felt as though the light were moving toward him... or was he moving toward it? It was almost like he was traveling along a tunnel, whatever light there was waiting at the end for him, except that he couldn't feel himself moving; it was more like the tunnel was moving past him, the light coming at him slowly but surely, warm and welcoming, quietly coaxing him to come closer, bringing him out of the darkness to bask in its glow.  
  
Danny slowly opened his eyes. There before him was a confusion of light and color, movement and shadow; he blinked, and his surroundings gradually began to slide into focus. He saw a figure of red and blue standing over him, felt something clasping his right hand... He blinked again. There stood his mother, Maddie Fenton, standing beside him where he lay. Behind her, the mid-morning sun shone like gold as it streamed through a glass window.  
  
He glanced up at the ceiling, the walls; he was inside a hospital recovery room, laying on his back in a bed, his head resting on a pillow. He was warm, his body clean and dry; his soaking wet clothes were gone, replaced by some sort of loose-fitting white cloth garment. He looked at his left arm, noticing something attached to it... a needle, which led to an IV drip that hung from a post on the left side of his bed.  
  
He looked away, turning back to his mother, her round eyes the telltale center of her emotions. She lifted her arms, stopped, hesitating... flung her arms around her son, pulled him close, burying her face in his soft dark hair, the tears flowing freely. Danny looked up, seeing Jazz and his father Jack also standing over him, Jazz with her hands around Danny's left hand, tears occasionally falling down her smiling face as well.  
  
"Danny... I... I was so afraid... I thought... we had lost you..."  
  
His mother turned her head, pressing the side of her head against Danny's.  
  
"We thought you were safe, I mean, at your friend's house... We only found out what happened after Jazz came back from the hospital... I'm so sorry that you had to go through all that, Danny..."  
  
He froze, turned his eyes toward Jazz. Her smile fading, she let go with one hand, raised it to her mouth; as though suddenly troubled, she looked toward Maddie, who was still wrapped around her son, lamenting.  
  
"I won't trouble you about it... I know you don't want to... I know I wouldn't... Considering what your friends already told me... Just forget about it for now... You're safe... You're with family now."  
  
She continued to hold Danny's head in her arms, her tears soaking the side of his face. He blinked, confused by her words. What did they find out from Jazz? What did Sam and Tuck tell her, and besides that, where were they? He looked around, looking past Maddie, and saw another bed beside his, upon which Tuck lay, watching him. Tuck raised one hand, smiled, waved. He then noticed Sam, sitting on the end of Tuck's bed, leaning forward with her arms across her knees, her hands folded. She was the only other person in the room not watching Danny; like Jazz, her eyes were on Maddie, an expression of anxiety on her pale face.  
  
Their tension was suddenly broken when the door to the recovery room swung open. All attention shifted toward the man in a camo uniform who rushed into the room, stopping in front of Jack.  
  
"Sir, we're getting reports from back at the shelter about one of your... um... devices... firing up and going off... I think it would be best if you returned to the shelter and did something about it before another one of our tents catches on fire."  
  
Jack reached over and put his hand on Maddie's shoulder, who had already looked up at the man's message. She slowly loosened her embrace, carefully laying Danny's head back on the pillow, looking down at him, raising a hand to wipe the tears from her eyes.  
  
"Right... Right. Danny... I'm sorry... We'd really, really hate to leave you..."  
  
"Don't worry..."  
  
Danny closed his hand around his mother's.  
  
"You go ahead. ...I'll be fine."  
  
Maddie was deeply reluctant to leave her son behind, even for a moment, after being separated from him for so long; but his words were strong, confident. She knew she had nothing to fear. He was safe where he lay, in the company of his friends, under the care of the nurses. He let go of her hand, and she stepped away, her mouth gingerly bending into a smile.  
  
"You'll be fine... We'll only be gone for a moment. We'll be back soon, I promise."  
  
Jazz lay Danny's other hand back down on the bed, sliding her fingers along the back of his hand, stepping back from the bed, following Jack and Maddie out of the room. Jack nodded at Danny, then disappeared around the corner, through the doorway; Maddie stopped at the doorframe, looking back at Danny, smiled again.  
  
"We'll be right back, dear. Promise."  
  
She then turned away and left. Jazz, however, walked out of the room without looking back.  
  
Danny watched them leave. Once the door clicked shut, the feeling set in, and his heart sank. His parents must have gone through the worst kind of emotional pain trying to deal with his unexplained absence. But then, what all did they know about what happened? What had Jazz told them?  
  
"They think you were at my house, helping me study for a test."  
  
Sam had walked up next to him, dragging a chair over from against the wall, planting it at his bedside and sitting down.  
  
"Jazz is apparently trying to cover up for you. Don't worry, she doesn't know a thing... She just doesn't want your parents worrying about you too much, for some reason. Maybe she was in charge of knowing where you were at the time. We don't really know..."  
  
She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the bed, her chin in her hands. Her eyes shifted to the needle taped down against Danny's arm.  
  
"I know you must feel really bad about your parents missing you..."  
  
Danny blinked.  
  
"What did you tell them?"  
  
Tuck spoke up.  
  
"We told them that a ghost dragon swooped down and grabbed you two days ago, carried you off somewhere, put you in torture you for an extensive period of time, then came back carrying you to try and get me as well. ...Not a far stretch from the truth, I'd say... And that the black and white dragon managed to save both our lives before it flew away. But then again, everyone knows what you--er, that dragon did."  
  
Danny blinked again.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Sam reached down and put her hand on Danny's right hand, closing her fingers around it gently.  
  
"Yeah... you were on the news. You're probably still on the news. But no one knows it's you, trust me."  
  
She sighed.  
  
"That was one of the dumbest alibis we've ever made up as an excuse for your absence, but... They bought it. But then again, when you've seen a bunch of giant monsters tearing down your house, you'd probably believe anything anybody tells you, as long as it offers some kind of explaination for what's going on..."  
  
Danny turned his gaze down at his hand. Sam looked at his face, noting his depressed countenance.  
  
"Danny, you don't have to worry about your parents."  
  
"But... Mom... She was crying. Even with her having some idea where I was... She was still in a pretty sad state."  
  
He felt her other hand close around his, lifting it up, and he turned to look; Sam held his hand between hers, leaning on her elbows, slipping her fingers between Danny's. She looked him straight in the eyes.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, Danny. Nothing that happened over the past few days was your fault. And of course your parents would feel bad, miss you terribly... They love you. But still, there's no reason for you to feel so bad about what they went through... In a way, you made up for it. You saved their lives. Danny, you saved all our lives."  
  
Danny looked at his hand, then back at Sam. She smiled.  
  
"If it weren't for you and what you did, your parents probably wouldn't be here to welcome you back, to tell you how happy they are to see you again. And of course they're never going to find out it was you, as long as you choose to keep this whole thing a secret... But still, you paid them back, you were there for them, even though you couldn't actually be there to support them and comfort them. You should be happy that they're still here for you."  
  
She turned his hand around and put the back of his wrist against her cheek, holding it there with both hands, gazing compassionately into Danny's eyes. He looked back, understanding what she was trying to get across to him. Sure, this entire ordeal had inflicted many a wound upon everyone's well-being, both physiological and psychological, but with time, these wounds will heal, and their sorrow will soon be forgotten. Things will just have to run their course for a while. There was nothing wrong with that, nothing to grieve for at all.  
  
As his mind was calmed, he realized that things were finally starting to return to normal. Normal for him, anyway.  
  
"Don't worry about a thing, Danny... Everything's going to be just fine."  
  
He closed his eyes.  
  
Sam could tell he had fallen asleep even before she had finished laying his hand back down.

* * *

He awoke later that night in a darkened room. He was quick to realize that he was still in the same room as before, just with all the lights turned off, save for a soft nightlight that hung on the wall just above his bed. He looked across at Tuck, who was fast asleep.  
  
As far as being the only one awake at this hour, he felt somewhat lonely. He lay back on the pillow, staring tiredly up at the ceiling. There was only one thing left troubling him...  
  
He heard the door click open, a beam of light thrown upon the wall. He sat up in bed, caught off guard. He saw the shadow on the wall, framed in the light from the hallway, and somehow it was felt he had known who it would be all along.  
  
Jazz walked into the room, her hands folded together in front of her chest; she stopped at the foot of the bed, looking at Danny, somewhat surprised at the fact that he was awake.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't know..."  
  
She walked along the side of the bed, putting her hand on the bedsheet, touching her fingers to Danny's shoulder. She then leaned over, putting her mouth close to his ear, whispering to him.  
  
"Now look... I covered for you this time... You wouldn't believe that I had to do to keep you out of trouble, with you running off, not telling any of us where you were going... You owe me big."  
  
He turned his head to face her, his brows furrowed, confused. Noting his expression, she giggled, smiled, and leaned down closer to him, speaking in an even more hushed tone.  
  
"But I'll let it go... Just this once."  
  
She reached up and kissed him on the forehead, then carefully pushed him back against the pillow, standing up, folding her hands back together. She gave him once last glance... was it a look of pride? ...then turned and walked out of the room once more, closing the door quietly behind her.  
  
Jazz turned around, noticing the plastic panel on the door, the panel that displayed the room number and occupants. The small slip of paper, reading "Danny Fenton", was hanging halfway out of the frame. She reached up and pushed the strip back into the slot, straightening it so that it read clearly through the small window on the panel. She stepped back to admire her work for a moment, then turned away, walking off down the hall.


End file.
